John Carmarck bothered with Next gen MProcessor Consoles

[darkblu]

PS. message passing does not prohibit the use of shared memory as a way of communicating data, messages can contain references (there are even ways of maintaining CSP purity with reference passing, if you want that).

Sorry - I never meant to imply that it did. I can visualise all sorts of architectures that mix the 'PC' and 'Transputer' models and there are lots of other things (NUMA, DMA engines, multiplexers, etc.) that could also be involved.

FWIW, the transputer system at my last job used both message passing and some shared memory.

FWIW, every SMP kernel worth its kilobytes uses both message passing and shared memory (the API could provide just message passing, where big messages go through shared mem, or both techniques could be provided explicitly, doesn't matter that much)

 

[jvd]

What jvd said makes a lot of sense. PCs come out with faster cpus every few months. On the console side, you can't have upgradable cpus etc. because it would fragment the market, so the only choice is to have multiple cpus in a closed box design.

yes exactly what i'm saying thank you. I suck at explaining myself sometimes

 

[London Geezer]

What jvd said makes a lot of sense. PCs come out with faster cpus every few months. On the console side, you can't have upgradable cpus etc. because it would fragment the market, so the only choice is to have multiple cpus in a closed box design.

yes exactly what i'm saying thank you. I suck at explaining myself sometimes

Sometimes? I agree with u though!!

 

[Dio]

FWIW, the transputer system at my last job used both message passing and some shared memory.

Aha. I thought the Atari version (which was the only one I saw) was messaging only, but I could probably be wrong there. I never worked Occam out well enough to tell

 

[Simon F]

FWIW, the transputer system at my last job used both message passing and some shared memory.

Aha. I thought the Atari version (which was the only one I saw) was messaging only, but I could probably be wrong there. I never worked Occam out well enough to tell

These were custom-built systems. Each had a "main" processor board with 4 or 6 transputers that had access to a central shared memory pool and I/O etc, and then N slave processor cards, each of which in turn had 16 CPUs and only used the serial links for communication.

 

[jvd]

FWIW, the transputer system at my last job used both message passing and some shared memory.

Aha. I thought the Atari version (which was the only one I saw) was messaging only, but I could probably be wrong there. I never worked Occam out well enough to tell

These were custom-built systems. Each had a "main" processor board with 4 or 6 transputers that had access to a central shared memory pool and I/O etc, and then N slave processor cards, each of which in turn had 16 CPUs and only used the serial links for communication.

Man Mr F you are old . You were working when the atari came out ?????

Dang But hey very interesting info .

 

[Simon F]

Man Mr F you are old . You were working when the atari came out ?????

Dang But hey very interesting info .

Enough of your cheek, you young whipper snapper or I'll clout you with my zimmer frame.

Going OT here....

Actually, more amazing was the real-time video effects "board" which took live video and mapped it to multiple quads which could then be moved around in 3D. It was, (and still is), the most densely populated 3 circuit boards I have even seen. It was utterly frightening. I never got a chance to program it - I stuck to the 2D, 3D, and the message-passing subsystem (sort of like a mini internet )

 

[Dio]

My first job came out of the Atari ST. We're all old farts here. Still not entirely worked out how I drifted into 3D, although one could argue I was a hardware and assembly hacker back then and not much has changed...

 

[Jov]

My first job came out of the Atari ST. ...

Atari ST... my very 1st computer. Still have it around somewhere. I'd not be in IT if it wasn't for the ST.

 

[Jov]

Back on topic...

Maybe this was mentioned, but has anyone considered John Carmarck comments in regards to Console designs an indicating where he might focus in the future?

 

[MrWibble]

Back on topic...

Maybe this was mentioned, but has anyone considered John Carmarck comments in regards to Console designs an indicating where he might focus in the future?

I predict that he'll focus on making PC based engines for first person shooters.

A strategy that seems to be working out ok for him so far.

 

[Fafalada]

I predict that he'll focus on making PC based engines for first person shooters.

Competition has been growing there though, and with XNA the opportunity to sell to console devs may be hard to just overlook.
Especially if you look what some others have already done with cross platform stuff - Unreal tech is anything but efficient on consoles and it still gets licensed quite a bit.

 

[MrWibble]

I predict that he'll focus on making PC based engines for first person shooters.

Competition has been growing there though, and with XNA the opportunity to sell to console devs may be hard to just overlook.
Especially if you look what some others have already done with cross platform stuff - Unreal tech is anything but efficient on consoles and it still gets licensed quite a bit.

Perhaps, but he's never seemed terribly bothered by coding down to a fairly closed platform.

Will some fancy repackaging of DX from Microsoft finally tempt him away from his beloved OpenGL? I'd have thought that if iD wanted to license to console devs they'd just hire a couple of console coders to port Carmack's work over and leave him in peace to code for the platform he likes.

Of course this is a man that probably routinely fashions furniture out of piles of money larger than I'll see in my lifetime, so I guess he'll do whatever he damn well pleases. Maybe he fances a challenge for once

 

[akira888]

Here's some information for the young'uns (*cough* jvd *cough*) on what I believe they're talikng about.

http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv4n4/transputer.html

Mind you everyone, this was 1989.

 

[jvd]

whoot i was 8 years old .

My dad bought an intellivison the day before I was born and it was the brand new toy .

 

[DeathKnight]

 

[I.S.T.]

I woulda thought Said53 was a Rage3D only thing.


I wonder if Carmack will ever work on a console again? It'd be interesting to see him commenting on how the PS3 or something like that programs, lol.

 

[Jov]

I predict that he'll focus on making PC based engines for first person shooters.

A strategy that seems to be working out ok for him so far.

It might seem to be working for him thus far, but it does not rule out his interest in different markets/platforms. If John Carmarck put his effort behind building bleeding edge engines for consoles, I will not doubt we'll see some interesting results. It might break open new techniques or expand on some existing but under utilized methods.

Also his tune might change if he did focus on consoles more.

 

[London Geezer]

It might break open new techniques or expand on some existing but under utilized methods.

:| Such as...?

He hasn't magically "found new techniques" on PC, what makes you think he can do that on consoles?

 

[Bohdy]

*imagines JC taking up a job offer from Retro Studios*

Oooooh Riiiight!

8)