[Update REQ 6900]: How to use Linux version on PC.

[munzner at cs.stanford.edu]

> I have been using your Geomview software for some time on an old IRIS SGI
> machine.  I have had great success with your software and would like to
> continue using it.  My problem is that my workstation is failing.  I have
> converted almost all of my work over to a high end PC running Windows 98.
> At this point, Geomview is the only software I use on the SGI machine.  I
> am reluctant to buy a new SGI workstation just to use Geomview.

Sorry about the long delay, I was hoping someone who knew more about
the Linux versions would answer. 

> My questions are the following:
> -Is it possible to use Geomview on a PC platform which is running Linux?

Yes, Geomview definitely runs on Linux. You can download a Linux
binary from http://www.geom.umn.edu/software/download/geomview.html

You can set your PC up as a dual-boot machine, so that you can choose
between Windows and Linux at boot time.

> -If so, is there any other software I would need (like Open GL or something)? 

There's a free version of OpenGL called Mesa that you'll need, but
it's widely available.

> -Do you have a specific supplyer of Linux that you would recommend?

Nope, any of them should do. 

> -What level of performance could I expect as compared to an entry level SGI
> machine?

I'm not sure which SGI you have - O2? Indy? Indigo? Personal Iris? In
the future there will be versions of Linux/Mesa that can make use of
the PC graphics card, but for now Mesa runs in software. But new PC
CPUs are getting mighty fast. I think the easiest way to answer that
question is try it out yourself. 

We have some speed tests, which I'm including below, but they're from
1996 so we don't have any of the newer PCs benchmarked. If you do end
up going with the Linux version, you can download
ftp://ftp.geom.umn.edu/priv/slevy/geomview-speedtests.tar.Z 
and find out where your computer fits on the list. If you do so,
please send us your results - it's very easy to run!

Here's the old tests file, ordered from worst to best:

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# Tests: "polygon" : 1620 small flat-shaded LIGHTED polygons
# 	 "matrix"  : 30 vectors x 115 matrices
#	 "tmesh"   : flat-shaded LIGHTED tmesh sphere: 35 rows of 70 tri's
#			(Uses tmesh primitive on SGI; other platforms just
#			 draw 35x35 quadrilateral mesh)
# All tests in 200x200 window; all polygons are flat-shaded and LIGHTED.
# Times are milliseconds per test cycle.

	       polygon	matrix tmesh
Sun: X Geomview 1690	 1980  1440	bers (Sparc 1+ GX, X11R5 server)
Gateway '486	 840	  970	470	Linux 1.3.100,Mesa 1.2.7,gcc272
NextStn Color	 675	 2700	415	quasifuchs (NextStation Color)
NextStn Turbo	 525	 2130	333	diophantus (NextStation Turbo B/W)
NextStn Trb Clr	 500	 2150	320	archimedes (NextStation Turbo Color)
NextCube NDmns	 720	 4500	400	schottky (NextCube w/NextDimension)
NextCube,ND,3.1	 890	 6050	490	schottky (NextCube w/ND, 3.1)
Gateway '486 PC  475	  620   387	kowalevsky (486 66MHz PC, Linux 0.99.14)
Gateway '486 PC	 460	  480	375	486 66MHz PC,Linux1.3.100,gvx1.6,-O2,8bit
Gateway '486 PC	 450	  465	370	486 66MHz,Linux1.3.100, gvx1.6,-O2,16bit
HP Gecko, NS3.2  430     1480   290	HP712/60, Nextstep 3.2; cc -g
HP Gecko, NS3.2  440     1325   287	HP712/60, Nextstep 3.2; cc -O
Gateway '486 PC	 425	 1600	250	kowalevsky (486 66MHz PC, NS 3.1)
Gateway '486 PC	 405	  512   325	kowalevsky (Linux 0.99.14, COPTS=-O)
Pers Iris 25G	 400	  900	400	bolyai (Pers Iris 4D/25G)
Sparc-5, OpenWin 375	  540	325	Sparc 5,Solaris 2.4,OW3,GV1.6,cc -g
Sparc-5,Mesa127  348	  485	185	Sparc 5,Sol2.4,MesaOpnGL1.2.7,cc -xO4
HP Gecko, HP-UX  311      430   258     32 MB HP 712/60, Geomview 1.4.2
HP Gecko, HP-UX  285	  290	233	ditto, With Geomview 1.5
Indy 8bit PCach	 275	  500	260	48MB Indy,8bit,primary cache only
Sparc-5, OpenWin 265	  280	205	Sparc 5,Solaris 2.4,OW3,GV1.6,cc -xO4
Mesa 1.2.7	 450	  650	310		400x400 win
Sparc-10, X11R5	 257	  280	205	Sparcstation 10, X11R5 server, Sun4.1.3
HP712/60+Mesa    268      404   160	fourier(HPUX9,gv1.6.0,Mesa1.2.8,cc +O2)
ALR Pentium PC	 230	  912   145	60MHz Pentium, NS 3.1, ALR Evolution V
Sparc-10, X11R5	 220	  220   180	Sparc 10, Geomview 1.5
RS/6000-370	 194	  285   149
R3000 Basic	 175	  310	130	ricci(R3K Indigo/basic graphics)
Pers Iris 30G	 240	  163	228	euclid  (Pers Iris 4D/30G)
Pers Iris 20GT	 116	  360	119	nielsen (Pers Iris 4D/20GT)
R3000 XS24	 185	   90	110	weyl    (R3000 Indigo XS24Z)
R3000 XS24	 137	   99	 84	weyl    (R3000 Indigo XS24Z)
Sparc5,Sol2.4	 180	  158   150	hausdorff(Sparc5,Slrs2.4,gv1.6.5,gcc-O2)
HP712, HPUX9.0	 170	  211	141	fourier (HP-UX,Geomview 1.6.0,HP cc -O)
Sparc-5,Sol2.4	 170	  148	138	lutz (Solaris2.4,Gv1.6.0,X11,gcc -O2)
Indy R4000SC	  83	  166    71	Indy R4000SC, 24-bit graphics
Indy R4600PC	  80	  133	 63	Indy R4600PC, 24-bit graphics(107/160/96 at 400x400)
Indigo-2 XZ	  76	   59	 45	abel    (Indigo-2 XZ)
R4000 XZ	  69	   60	 42	banach  (R4000 Indigo XZ)
R4600SC Indy XL	  65	  111    50	picard  (133 MHz R4600SC, 8-bit graph)
UltraSparc,SunOGL 52	  107    26	pdc7a.jpl (UltraSparc,hdw3D(?),native OGL)
R4000 Elan	  43	   89		lebesgue.msri.org  (R4000 Elan)
R4400 Indy	  42	   95	 40	R4400 Indy SC, 24-bit graphics
R4600SC Indy XZ	  48	   34    28	morse, 133 MHz, XZ graphics
Indigo-2 XZ	  49	   33	 29	pisot.fields (Indigo-2 XZ, 175 MHz)
33MHz VGX	  30	   70	 17	i6.msi  (VGX, 33MHz R3000 CPU)
Indigo-2 Extreme  24	   52	 15	nonabel (Indigo-2 Extreme)
R8000 Ind-2 Ext'm 22	   22	 13	nielsen (75MHz Power Indigo-2 Extreme)
Indigo-2 Impact	  65	   38	  7	carroll.fields (Indigo-2 Impact, 200MHz)
Crimson VGX	  25	   61	 12	gauss   (100MHz Crimson VGX, 4.0.5)
Ind-2Impact,GL	  27	   43	  7	riemann'(250MHzR4400 Solid Impact, GL)
SGI R5K O2,OpnGL  19       38    13     dove (180MHz 128MB R5000 O2, OpenGL)
Ind-2Impact,OpnGL  8	   23     5	carroll.fields (200MHz Impact, OpenGL)
Ind-2Impact,OpnGL  9	   20	  6	riemann'(250MHzR4400SolidImpact,OpenGL)
Reality Station	   5.5	   40     4	dirichlet (250MHz Reality Station)

Hardware notes:
  Thanks to Tim Rowley for R5000 O2 benchmark.   (I later benchmarked another
  similarly-configured machine and got nearly identical results. -slevy)

  "Gateway '486 PC" - Geometry Center
    256k cache.  What graphics board? ATI Graphics Ultra Pro (VLB)

  "ALR Pentium PC" - Andreas Windemuth, windemut at cumbnd.bioc.columbia.edu:
    2Mb ATI Ultra Pro VLB board, running the updated driver from NeXTanswers
    at 1120x832/RGB555:16. The ALR has a 64 bit data path and 256k of cache.

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Hope this helps,
Tamara