Omega-TI Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Okay, This question is directed at people like Tursi, Willsy, Matthew and Jim. A year or so ago there was mention of a super fast multiple core Forth cartridge that would do it's processing separately from the TI. I've also read something (if my memory serves me correctly) that the F18A can do so some processing as well. Anyway this got me wondering, if that device could be used in a non-Forth type support setting? Could that cartridge and the F18A be used together to accomplish what Doc Brown of the era said would be, "Some serious sh__". I figure the TI would be the choke point for speed, but I wonder what kind of cool things could come out of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Well, what do you want it to do? Both of those devices are co-processors. They still need software to do anything. I did some quick demos to try and show the speed of the F18A GPU versus the 9900 CPU. In addition, a secondary benefit of any coprocessor is whatever work it is doing doesn't have to slow down the main CPU at all. The main downside of these co-processors is they don't have direct access to the TI's hardware. The F18A GPU has a huge benefit in having a direct connection to the video system, but it can't access audio, I/O, or system RAM. The Forth board will have similar limits. As for having chokepoints... it's a TI-99/4A. Anyone who spends any time writing performance code for it is very used to dealing with chokepoints. I have some ideas for what I'd like to do with the F18A but I'm not able to do very much outside of work at the moment. My other pie-in-the-sky project is a GPL accelerator (basically a co-processor that runs the GPL program and only exposes the I/O commands to the real console), but it remains to be seen if I'll invest serious time in that. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstimson Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 We need to start cloning all you smart guys that are able to do nifty add-ons for the TI. Sadly we Pakleds can only cross our fingers and hope that something happens. BTW, I love my F18A. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Well, what do you want it to do? My other pie-in-the-sky project is a GPL accelerator (basically a co-processor that runs the GPL program and only exposes the I/O commands to the real console), but it remains to be seen if I'll invest serious time in that. Will this mean that we might be able to run TI BASIC and XB at much faster speeds without the need for compilation? Gawwd! That would be so awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 Well, what do you want it to do? The F18A GPU has a huge benefit in having a direct connection to the video system For starters I kind of fantasized about a GUI using the F18A's capabilities, and the multi-core system handling some of the processing load. I also figured NON-video I/O would be at normal speeds, but oh man, stuff that's never been tried before could now be practical and could lead to things so far undreamed of, which could lead us anywhere. We need to start cloning all you smart guys that are able to do nifty add-ons for the TI. Sadly we Pakleds can only cross our fingers and hope that something happens. BTW, I love my F18A. Glad to see someone picked up on the Star Trek reference in the thread title! Will this mean that we might be able to run TI BASIC and XB at much faster speeds without the need for compilation? Gawwd! That would be so awesome! Interesting possibilities huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Will this mean that we might be able to run TI BASIC and XB at much faster speeds without the need for compilation? Gawwd! That would be so awesome! I envisioned it as part of my MPD, so it'd only be able to accelerate the code that it contains (mostly the "OS" and TI BASIC). But it would be fun if it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 For starters I kind of fantasized about a GUI using the F18A's capabilities, and the multi-core system handling some of the processing load. There's nothing heavyweight about a GUI that requires co-processing. I hope to offer a simple one with MPD... just a shell, but it'd be fun to have. Now if you are talking about a full-on multi-tasking OS... well, yeah. I could see a co-processor helping there. But without new productivity software the usefulness of it feels low to me, so I'll probably just stick to the shell. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 Well now, the shell is a good start! If I've learned anything about TI'ers of the programming variety, "If you build it, they will come." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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