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ejeschke / ginga

The Ginga astronomical FITS file viewer
BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
121 stars 77 forks source link

Remove support for OpenCL #956

Closed ejeschke closed 3 years ago

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

Remove support for OpenCL. For the standard renderer, opencv is more generally useful, and for GPU optimization, the OpenGL support is better and more widely supported and likely to be used.

This simplifies the code base and documentation.

pllim commented 3 years ago

I vaguely remember some GL stuff giving me segfault because my graphics card is too old (#837). Will this bring that problem back?

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

No, this is regarding the OpenCL support--removing it. OpenGL support is still there, but is not used by default--you have to invoke with --opengl option.

pllim commented 3 years ago

But if OpenCL is gone, that means my only other option is OpenGL?

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

But if OpenCL is gone, that means my only other option is OpenGL?

OpenCv provides good support for conventional CPU-based transformations. But OpenGL is now the defacto standard for GPU-based computation. OpenCL was Intel's attempt to forge their own standard, but it never really took off. Whereas OpenGL is in everything, including the web-browser you use.

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

Sorry, didn't quite answer the question. You'll still be fine. Install python-opencv and enjoy similar speedup's as you would have gotten with OpenCL, but without the hassle! 😄

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

And try --opengl if you have a modern display card and a larger monitor...

pllim commented 3 years ago

OK, good to know. Thanks!

p.s. Not all my browsers support WebGL, if that is the same thing as OpenGL.

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

Not all my browsers support WebGL, if that is the same thing as OpenGL.

Well, chrome, firefox, safari, edge do--IFF you have a modern graphics card or laptop with a GPU.

pllim commented 3 years ago

I am still stuck with RHEL 7 with no possibility to upgrade. 😿

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

I am still stuck with RHEL 7 with no possibility to upgrade.

Sounds like "I am stuck in H*ll". :smiling_imp:

Well, what about a container or a VM? Then you could install whatever Linux you want in it!

pllim commented 3 years ago

a container or a VM?

Sigh. Long story... But don't worry too much about my machine. I will work around it. I don't think my machine should block this but it is nice to still have a working Ginga without GL in case other users are in similar situation as I am.

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

@pllim, any objection to merge?

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

I'll fix the conflict first, of course.

ejeschke commented 3 years ago

De-conflicted and rebased.