Arch Linux

Google

Member

From: Mountain View, California

Registered: 2010-05-31

Posts: 484

Website

WM/DE powered by the GPU (using CUDA?)

I was curious if this is something people are working on. At first I thought about an entire operating system powered by the GPU instead of a stand alone CPU, but that was quickly ruled out. I ruled it out because an OS seems to rely a lot of very specific hardware/CPU setups that a GPU just couldn't emulate at this stage (maybe in the future).

The second thing I considered was producing applications that could take a burden off the CPU.. such as running a DE or WM through the GPU instead of the CPU. This could free up the CPU to focus more on the OS and other non-GPU bound applications.

Is this plausible? I searched the net and I did find some projects being done, but nothing major as it seems. I read an article about CUDA coding on the rise, so it made me think about jumping on the train while it's still here.

edit:

Around the net I have read Enlightenment is 3d accelerated as well as Compiz. I guess that explains their snappiness when compared to others, but how much of their code is 3d accelerated? I assume they don't run entirely off the GPU. I am curious about this kind of stuff, still a lot to learn..

Last edited by Google (2010-12-07 20:17:44)

Zeist

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

Registered: 2008-07-04

Posts: 532

Re: WM/DE powered by the GPU (using CUDA?)

Based on how GPUs work I really doubt that you would see any practical gain in performance from pushing absolutely everything onto the GPU. I think there are some parts that could potentially be more optimal when running on the GPU though. I would recommend reading up on how GPUs process things and what GPUs are good at.

Done quite a bit GPU coding in applications with really high performance requirements the last few years, it is a really interesting field. Sometimes though it is far more effective to optimize the code on the CPU as the CPU is actually better at some things.

---

I haven't lost my mind; I have a tape back-up somewhere.
Twitter

fsckd

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-06-15

Posts: 4,173

Re: WM/DE powered by the GPU (using CUDA?)

Compositing window managers such as E17 and Compiz do 3d stuff, which is why they have 3d acceleration. Xmonad does not do 3d stuff, which is why it is not 3d accelerated.

GPU -> co-processor for vectorized "math" oriented computations
CPU -> general purpose stuff

There is ongoing research in moving GPU functions into the CPU. Ask your namesake about GPGPU. CUDA is supposed to be a step in this direction.

---

aur S & M :: forum rules :: Community Ethos
Resources for Women, POC, LGBT*, and allies