[Open-graphics] Press release, VGA project, need to make progress

[Pierluigi Rolando]

Il giorno 06/giu/08, alle ore 19:54, Timothy Normand Miller ha scritto:

> Among other things, I think OGD1 could use a couple of killer apps.
> Obviously, as you say, VGA is a good one, but that's more of a killer
> app for companies that might want to resell OGD1 boards with some
> added specializations.

On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 5:30 AM, Dieter <netbsd at sopwith.solgatos.com>  
wrote:

> In addition to Roger's suggestions, I'd like to suggest that some  
> "firmware"
> (for lack of a better word) be available before generating more  
> publicity.
> Get the card to *do* something.  A minimal VGA would be one obvious  
> choice.

If I can express my very humble opinion, I believe these paragraphs  
highlight what is probably the main problem with OGD1. From what I've  
seen (and it is admittedly not much), most of the successful open- 
whatever projects start to gain momentum when there is some kind of  
deliverable that people can tinker with. This is more or less easily  
achieved with software but it is obviously much harder (and  
expensive) in the hardware realm, where the deliverable (often) needs  
to physically exists.

I personally expect that the real moment when orders will start to  
come in fast is going to be when some kind of downloadable software  
pack will be available with which people can easily transform a OGD1  
board into a VGA card. Until then, to many people (such as myself)  
OGD1 is just a hunk of hardware undoubtedly capable of performing  
wonders but sitting idly on a shelf/in a computer case. People with  
the capability of using bare FPGA dev kits probably already own them,  
and I'm afraid OGD1 is just too expensive to be bought as a toy (at  
least for my measly student income).

You know, maybe just having the VGA code in place and working under a  
simulator could be enough. I for one would be interested in trying to  
e.g. have the graphical part of the Allegro API [1] hardware- 
accelerated on the OGD1 architecture. I would not care too much about  
having to test everything at snail speed under a simulator.

Finally, please let me conclude as Roger started -- stating that I  
have the utmost respect for everyone that is working/has worked on  
this project. Actually, from what I see as a lurker, I believe that  
both the card and the HDL code are coming along nicely, and I hope  
that everyone has enough time (and founds!) to bring everything to  
the point where the downhill descent begins :-)

Regards,
Pierluigi