@Hammer

Quote:

Hammer wrote: @cdimauro Quote: cdimauro wrote: Although so much time has passed, direct hardware programming continues to be considered a bad programming practice that would have been best avoided even when, in the Amiga days, it was so often a necessity dictated by project goals. This is clearly a purely ideological and short-sighted position, which deserves to be investigated and, then, stigmatised. English: https://www.appuntidigitali.it/23936/directly-programming-the-amiga-hardware-was-not-a-bad-practice/ Nonostante sia passato così tanto tempo, la programmazione diretta dell'hardware continua a essere considerata una cattivissima pratica di programmazione che sarebbe stato meglio evitare anche quando, ai tempi dell'Amiga, era tante volte una necessità dettata dagli obiettivi di progetto. Si tratta chiaramente di una posizione puramente ideologica e miope, che merita di essere approfondita e, poi, stigmatizzata. Italian: https://www.appuntidigitali.it/23810/programmare-direttamente-lhardware-dellamiga-non-era-una-cattiva-pratica/ It's bad practice when hit-the-metal PS4 imposes heavier evolution limitations for PS4 Pro and PS5. PS4 Pro's GPU's 36 CU GCN Polaris+ degrades into PS4's 18 CU GCN 2.0 mode. 36 CU is direct 2X over 18 CU.

Same as above. Was hit-the-metal a LEGAL practice (e.g.: allowed by Sony's guidelines) or not?

If yes -> it was NOT a bad practice per sé. If no -> it was a bad practice.

It's super simple to understand, eh!

Besides that, does it crippled the evolution of the consoles? That's Sony's problem and certainly NOT developers' problems.

Sony knew perfectly that opening the doors for direct hardware hitting would have crippled the future of the consoles, as well as the games. So, it's entirely its responsibilities.

Probably it decided to go in that direction trying to compensate the poorer hardware (compared to the competition). But again: it's entirely its problem and full responsibility.

Bad practices were only related to the not following the guidelines. Full stop.

@cdimauro


Quote:

Same as above. Was hit-the-metal a LEGAL practice (e.g.: allowed by Sony's guidelines) or not? If yes -> it was NOT a bad practice per sé. If no -> it was a bad practice.

Within the userland environment, Sony allowed hit-the-metal for PS4 which limits PS4's evolution scaling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7RSszCPt68
AMD's hit-the-metal GCN "Shader Intrinsic Functions" (bypass the JIT compiler stages) for the PC. It's short-term gain, long-term pain. AMD promoted hit-the-metal GCN on Windows PCs.

For Xbox One, Microsoft contacted AMD to create a microcoding DX12 engine for GCN. Microsoft plans for future Xbox hardware iterations.

For GCN-based hit-the-metal PS4 and AMD's hit-the-metal "Shader Intrinsic Functions" (bypass JIT compiler framework) for the PC creates a specific code path for GCN.

For RDNA 3 CU, using legacy GCN Wave64 wouldn't be using half of RDNA 3's 128 stream processors. RDNA 3's dual-issue mode only works for RDNA's Wave32 instructions!

AMD's HPC CDNA 1, 2 and 3 are GCN 5.x Wave64 architecture.

https://www.techpowerup.com/326442/amd-to-unify-gaming-rdna-and-data-center-cdna-into-udna-singular-gpu-architecture-similar-to-nvidias-cuda?cp=2
AMD created a large mess in the HPC and consumer GpGPU markets e.g. wasted software optimizations.

AMD has abandoned VLIW5 (Terrascale e.g. Wii U) and VLIW4 (Northern islands) GpGPU architectures.

https://hardwaretimes.com/amd-retires-vega-polaris-graphics-a-look-at-the-gcn-vs-rdna-gpu-architectures/
AMD abandons Polaris (2016) and Vega (2017) based GCN products.

https://wccftech.com/amd-bids-farewell-to-gcn-architecture-ends-driver-support-for-radeon-7000-200-300-fury-series-graphics-cards/
AMD has ended support for its GCN GPU architecture which includes the Radeon 7000, 200, 300 & Fury series graphics cards.

NVIDIA's CUDA Warp32 won the GpGPU war. For the long term, who wants to commit to AMD GpGPU software optimizations when AMD has a record of abandoning GpGPU architectures?

NVIDIA's CUDA Warp32 has superior consistency.


PS4 emulators on the PC example is the way forward for running PS4 software legacy.
https://icon-era.com/threads/sony-is-hiring-coders-for-emulators-again.12072/
For the PlayStation business, Sony is hiring developers who have experience with emulators.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZvSEdFGyxE
PS4 emulation on the PC example.


https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-reportedly-won-contract-to-design-playstation-6-chip-outbidding-intel-and-broadcom
AMD won Sony's PS6 contract and Intel strongly disagrees with the result.

AMD doesn't guarantee GCN ISA's long-term existence.

My GpGPU software investments are with NVIDIA's CUDA.

NVIDIA still supports Maxwell architecture (2014) with its latest driver releases e.g. 550 U10 (553.24) Oct 22, 2024 for Windows 11.

NVIDIA still supports Kelper architecture (2012) with its latest driver releases e.g. R470 U18 (475.14) Jul 09, 2024 for Windows 11.

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@ppcamiga1

Please state which UNIX you want MUI ported to!

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@kolla

Quote:

@ppcamiga1 Please state which UNIX you want MUI ported to!

Yeah, let's make this happen!

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The Illusion of Choice | Am*ga

@kolla

any decent

@ppcamiga1

Quote:

ppcamiga1 wrote: @kolla any decent

Such as?

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B5D6A1D019D5D45BCC56F4782AC220D8B3E2A6CC

@kolla

What about FreeBSD?

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Doing stupid things for fun...