| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous Rating: N/A |
Hi. How can I get my Pen 4 to display onto 3 separate monitors at the same time for a wrap-around view? | ||
| Giorgio Bogoni Rating: N/A |
I've been thinking a lot about how I could display standard OpenGL applications on 3 or more monitors. It's quite easy up to 2 monitors using a dual-monitor graphic card but for 3 or more ... I've been told I can mount more than 2 PCI - graphic cards in a PC, but how can I make the software see all of them? | ||
| Slava Rating: N/A |
Wicked3D developed a custom OpenGL driver to support 3 monitors in surround view, combined with an optional stereo mode. It was a one time custom project developed for NASA a while ago. The driver was actually an extended MiniGL driver, with pretty much the same game compatibility as currently freely available WickedGL (at http://www.wicked3d.com). That "surround" view driver was developed to be used with 3 Voodoo2 boards, which was the latest card at the moment. If you have serious interest in this technology, send me a note (put "Attn:Slava" in the subject line). | ||
| Michal Husak Rating: N/A |
The problematic you discuce is closly related to the CAVE device (stereo projection on 4 screen simulatanously). The problem is solved by synchronised work of 2 computers with 2 graphic boards (via normal TCP-IP). The key is implementation of 'shared data ' acces for both computers ... | ||
| Eric Lindstrom Rating: N/A |
Which would explain why Linux would be a good OS to use for such an application. Task sharing is a big benifit of the Linux OS. Ever hear of a "Beowulf Cluster"? It's a group of Linux boxes networked together, running software that supports paralell processing over TCP/IP netwoking. Wired Magazine gave a vague Beowulf Cluster how to in a recent article on super computers. You can also learn more about building your own beowulf cluster at http://www.beowulf.org Building your own cluster for this purpose might be a worthy idea, and Linux is a free OS. The only drawback; Only Voodoo boards have a good amount of support in Linux, If you use any other chipset, you'd have to find another solution. -Eric L. | ||
| Michal Husak Rating: N/A |
Eric L. : Linux is not suitable just from the reason you mention - not enought good support for graphic cards. Voodoo boards are unfortunately to slow for serious use now ... The zero support for stersocopy in existing Linux graphic card drivers is another disadvantage ... Windows can synchronize data exchenge by Micorosoft Direct Play API or by some other comunications protocols ... The amount of data echnage betwen simultanously rendering computers is not very big, each machine have its complet copy of the scene data, you need to transfer only synchronization events and user-interaction events ... Much more bigger problem concerning multiple graphic output and stereoscopy is the Vsync synchronization of all active graphic cards nessesery for simulatanous displaying of stero image for LCD glasses ... | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
NVIDIA just updated their Linux drivers and I'll bet that they are better than the Voodoo ones considering the power of the newer graphics cards... (Just a guess, haven't tried them) | ||
| Maart Rating: N/A |
otherwise you could still use de-multiplexers, it would be way more expensive but you won't have to worry about v-sync, or using 2 pc's in a network for each projection screen one for the left eye and the other for the right eye. ok you will have to get 2 times the amount of pc's but I think 2 pc's are cheaper than the multiplexers that can handle high resolutions. Maart | ||
| Eric Lindstrom Rating: N/A |
True, The only board fully supported by Linux are voodoo cards, But Nvidia drivers are coming along nicely. Even so, not all Voodoo boards are totally obsolete yet, I personally use a Voodoo5 5500 AGP in one of my workstations, and it's pretty damn fast for my needs. Still, the page-flipping support isn't fully implemented, so I could see how this may make Nvidia boards a better option for some. Beowulf Clusters are nice, though, due to the fact that they paralell-process data over the nework that connects the nodes in the cluster together. Any PC capable of running Linux and a a NIC card (even old 386 PC's) can be added to the cluster to boost processing speed. Some privately built clusters are close to the speeds of today's fastest super computers (but contain hundreds of nodes). Still, even small clusters made up of 3 or 4 machines can be formidable. Add to this the CAVE emulation softwarte for Linux that is freely available, and you can basically make yourself a home-based CAVE for a significantly lower price. And even though 3DFX chipsets are considered inferior by many, VoodooX chipset cards are cheap right now. It would definitely be an option for someone with a budget. -Eric L. BTW: Linux supports multiple display adapters as well, just another reason. |
