I'm just heading home from another great AmiWest show where more info. was revealed about AmigaOS Final Edition, etc.

I'll now answer some questions if you want to post them here.

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ExecSG Team Lead

@ssolie

I know WinUAE is not supported platform. However, is it possible to allow to use Z3 RAM as normal Fast RAM (OS4.1 Classic)?

@ssolie

Extended memory functionality

If i'm not mistaken, and i probably am, given my memory is going worse by the day, this only covers the RAM inside the machines and it also will only be available for programs that have been built/compiled with that new functionality. Am i right?

Now for a long shot (and probably regarding the RadeonHD driver)
...does this also apply to the memory on installed gfx cards? I don't think so, but asking doesn't hurt.
Right now the memory on the gfx boards is still "limited" to 256MB regardless of what is physically installed.
Can the whole memory on gfx boards also be made available?
If not with the Extended memory functionality, then maybe with an update to the gfx driver?

Or did i forget again, that this limitation has a reason and cannot be lifted "easily"?

Thank you very much

@Raziel

"What about VRAM? Generally speaking, more is better, but more VRAM also uses more power (e.g., GDDR5 has a reputation for being power hungry).
Having said that, even 512 MiB is significantly more than existing Amiga OS 4.x users with Radeon cards are used to.

Unlike the older Radeon cards, these cards do not have the split device problem that prevented most 256 MiB card owners from using the full 256 MiB. The drivers will eventually be able to use all of the available VRAM. However, there is one slight issue.

Picasso96 assumes that all VRAM is accessible via the CPU, but this assumption no longer applies. Only the first 256 MiB on these cards is actually directly accessible and the rest is only directly accessible by the GPU. This was most likely done to avoid running out of addressing space (2 GiB of VRAM would only leave 2 GiB for all other devices and RAM on a 32-bit system).

Regardless, as a consequence Picasso96 will only be able to use 256 MiB. I can almost hear people saying, "but I thought that you said..." Yes, the rest of the VRAM will still be used. The 3D drivers will be able to make full use of the additional VRAM, and I am investigating additional possible uses.

The current drivers (as on Saturday 15 January 2011) already use the additional VRAM as a temporary buffer for overlapped blits."


http://hdrlab.org.nz/projects/amiga-os-4-projects/radeonhd-driver/radeonhd-card-recommendations-for-amigaos-4-x/

@pavlor

+1

Quote:

pavlor wrote: @ssolie I know WinUAE is not supported platform. However, is it possible to allow to use Z3 RAM as normal Fast RAM (OS4.1 Classic)?

@ssolie

i have two questions for you:)

1:
i see someone write about animated wb background,
what is this? is it video files? if it is so, is it gpu accelerated? is it a part of the new icons?

2:
i have seen this question alot of places, and i almost know the answer, but just wanted to make sure it's correct. Can we with sam460ex with newer gpu card just put AOS4.1FE into dvd drive and install? no need
to change to older graphic card?

just want to congratulate the work your all made possible. thank you.

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@ssolie

Quote:

I'll now answer some questions if you want to post them here.

What's the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

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question=(2b||!(2b))

@pavlor
Quote:

I know WinUAE is not supported platform. However, is it possible to allow to use Z3 RAM as normal Fast RAM (OS4.1 Classic)?

I don't know. And you are correct, WinUAE is not a supported target platform so you are 100% on your own.

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ExecSG Team Lead

@Raziel
Quote:

If i'm not mistaken, and i probably am, given my memory is going worse by the day, this only covers the RAM inside the machines and it also will only be available for programs that have been built/compiled with that new functionality. Am i right?

Yes, each piece of software must use the extended memory API to have any benefit. More information can be found at http://blog.hyperion-entertainment.biz/?p=1131

Quote:

..does this also apply to the memory on installed gfx cards?

Not at all. In fact, that would be very bad idea given you would be going over the PCI bus.

Quote:

Can the whole memory on gfx boards also be made available?

It already is. However, most of it is for 3D so it of no benefit to you right now.

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@noXLar
Quote:

1: i see someone write about animated wb background, what is this? is it video files? if it is so, is it gpu accelerated? is it a part of the new icons?

That is called CANDI and it is a program which animates the background of the Workbench window. It was sponsored by A-EON and will be available shortly. It does use the CPU but it runs at a lower priority so it won't interfere with your workload. It has nothing to do with icons.

Quote:

i have seen this question alot of places, and i almost know the answer, but just wanted to make sure it's correct. Can we with sam460ex with newer gpu card just put AOS4.1FE into dvd drive and install? no need to change to older graphic card?

Correct. There is a special trimmed down RadeonHD driver planned for those platforms which support RadeonHD cards. Hopefully, more details will be available soon.

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ExecSG Team Lead

@lylehaze
Quote:

What's the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

African or European?

For those that don't know what we are on about see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_Grail

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ExecSG Team Lead

@ssolie

thank you for answering,

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nox's in the house!

@ssolie

What's the difference between RadeonHD 1.2 and 2.4? Is the first one for not accelerated gfx background? What's their properties?

How much will be the cost of RadeonHD 2.4?

@ssolie

Quote:

That is called CANDI and it is a program which animates the background of the Workbench window. It was sponsored by A-EON and will be available shortly. It does use the CPU but it runs at a lower priority so it won't interfere with your workload. It has nothing to do with icons

Can I write some about it, hope it is not the false thread for it. I make it short.

YES, it uses compositing and with it the hardware acceleration of the HD graphics card it is full GPU accelerated. Because it was not a small task to add it into the workbench background we had to find ways to do it, so the CPU also have something to do as not all parts can be accelerated yet, icon painting for instance. As Steven wrote, it runs in low priority. If you start another important task like OWB and it needs CPU power, the candi goes back to sleep. There also are two versions, one for better CPU one for lower CPU, so you can choose what you prefer. The DMA stuff currently made will improve the performance and put the CPU usage down... On my sam460 with a low end RadeonHD5450 it runs well, also the normal CPU version.

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@ssolie

Re: Candi animated backgrounds

Will/has the Screensaver been updated accordingly to allow for more smoothly faded in/out from one image to another? E.g. like a slideshow of images

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@ssolie
Since there were some teasers for Warp3D for RadeonHD in some AMIStore screenshots: any news about that or its concrete release date?

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AmigaOS 4.1 FE (sam460ex Radeon 9200 / RadeonHD), MorphOS 3.8 (PowerMac G4 733MHz Radeon 9000), AROS (x86), A1200 (060 80MHz Indivision MK2), A500, A600, CDTV
Wings Remastered Development Diary

@imagodespira

So Candy will not work with the old ATIRadeon.chip but only with an HD right ?

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BACK FOR THE FUTURE

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Sam440ep Flex 800 Mhz 1 GB Ram + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 6
AmigaOne XE G3 800 Mhz - 640 MB Ram - Radeon 9200 SE + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 6

@samo79

As it uses Compositing, it should work also for older Cards. But newer Cards are faster, have mor VRAM etc. and it is optimized for this. So it could be slower and only with lower resolutions. If it is released, there is time to try it ;)

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www.amiboing.de - www.entwickler-x.de

Sorry to be off topic, but there's a few options for animated backdrops for os3.x and has been for decades.
Might be good alternatives for those interested. Nice and light too. One I used to use ran without hiccups on an '030+fastram system.

@ssolie

Has the transparency bug been fixed for WB popup menus?