This forum has been archived. All content is frozen. Please use KDE Discuss instead.

Start using OpenCL in KDE apps

35

Votes
37
2
Tags: opencl, gpu computing opencl, gpu computing opencl, gpu computing
(comma "," separated)
saldsl
Registered Member
Posts
19
Karma
0

Start using OpenCL in KDE apps

Sun Feb 14, 2010 9:07 am
First of all, I'm not a programmer, so this is mainly a suggestion to developers.
What about to start using OpenCL in KDE apps, so that in systems equipped with compatible graphics card (ATI & nVidia) would be possible to use GPU power for some tasks (photo, video operations, etc.)?
I haven't any idea how and if this is possible, but, hey, in MacOS X they did it, and it's just a "linux with white suite" OS! :D

EDIT As suggested from TheBlackCat I (try to) explain what OpenCL is... the best explanation you can find however is on Wikipedia, also my english is not very well. OpenCL is a programming language that enable to run programs using the Graphic Processing Unit (the processor of a graphic card) instead or together a CPU. GPUs have a different architecture from CPUs, they have a lot of parallelized pipelines. So for some tasks, like video encoding, using OpenCL and a mainstream GPU is easy to reach 10x the performance of the quickest CPU.
Sure the framework must be implemented in a lower level (I'm not sure open source video drivers are interested in this, maybe in the kernel, or maybe for ATI is just needed to support the SDK), however I think KDE developers should start to plan how and where to use it.

Last edited by saldsl on Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
finex
KDE Developer
Posts
46
Karma
0
OS

Start using OpenCL in KDE apps

Sun Feb 14, 2010 4:51 pm
It should be implemented in a lower level
User avatar
Primoz
Moderator
Posts
859
Karma
1
OS

Start using OpenCL in KDE apps

Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:27 pm
I agree with finex on that. Yes KDE should try and make use of it, but the real implementation should be done on lower level, like kernel module and graphics driver...
But on other hand KDE should use it, it's just that it's not on just KDE to implement it.
I decided to leave it open for now...


Primoz, proud to be a member of KDE forums since 2008-Nov.
User avatar
TheBlackCat
Registered Member
Posts
2945
Karma
8
OS

Start using OpenCL in KDE apps

Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:33 am
Could you please edit your post to explain what opencl is?


Man is the lowest-cost, 150-pound, nonlinear, all-purpose computer system which can be mass-produced by unskilled labor.
-NASA in 1965
saldsl
Registered Member
Posts
19
Karma
0

Start using OpenCL in KDE apps

Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:58 pm
I add some explanation, you can find more in depth information on wikipedia or better on www.khronos.org/opencl/


Bookmarks



Who is online

Registered users: Baidu [Spider], Bing [Bot], Google [Bot], Yahoo [Bot]