New AGA SDL Development

[ChaosLord]

When I get the time, I'd also like to try and add RTG support (copy the code over from the existing SDL).

I have no interest in SDL for AGA but an optimized SDL for RTG could be really nice!!!

In the olden days when I looked at SDL it called a subroutine for EVERY SINGLE PIXEL in a blit.  It was mind bogglingly slow.  So I threw it overboard like a dead body and forgot about it.  But that was 10 years ago and hopefully things have improved now?

[ChaosLord]

@matthey

Perhaps instead of breaking compatibility he should have renamed his version newixemul.library or something like that.

There are a grand total of 0 apps that look for "newixemul.library".  There are hundreds of apps that look for "ixemul.library".  Bernd named it the only logical name that he could possibly name it.

If you don't like the name you are free to rename the file yourself to any name you want.  I have done this myself back in the old days when ixemul was a bug ridden pile of trash, (back before Bernd rescued ixemul from oblivion): I renamed it to ixesux.library.

I have never tested Bernd's new version and hopefully never will.

[ChaosLord]

You could have just fixed it or report the error. Why deprive the users of something that could be so great.

It didn't need a "fix".  It needed a "total complete rewrite from the ground up".   SDL back then had innumerable interconnected problems.

Every time I have ever looked at Linux code it is always coded in the most totally inefficient manner possible.

I am hoping/assuming that all the problems have been fixed these days.

I have no pressing need for SDL at the moment but if an intelligent being such as NovaCoder stated that an SDL existed for RTG that was coded in a nonridiculous manner then I would at some point reinvestigate the possibility of using it.  The better it works, the more I want to use it.  But for right this exact second I can code in straight AmigaOS3.x (+- P96 and/or CGX)

One thing I need to look into is can SDL ports have Arexx ports?  Or something to the same effect?

[ChaosLord]

I think what he's asking is if there are some Arexx bindings that support SDL.  There are for other languages.  SDL is just an API, Arexx a scripting language.

I should have elaborated more

I wasn't asking about Arexx the language.  I accept input from Arexx but I don't give that language any special treatment.

When I said "arexx" I meant the Interprocess Communication API part of arexx.

Games and apps need to be able to accept commands from other tasks running on the same computer.  SDL supposedly allows programs to run and perform the same functions on multiple platforms.  Interprocess Communication (like with arexx) is a function my game needs for scripting language support.

[ChaosLord]

So what is the story with SDL and RTG?

Many many years ago I was going to port all my games over to SDL/RTG.

But SDL was megatremendously sloooooooooooow.  It had been out for a few years yet nobody had ever optimized the algorithms at all so it was totally completely worthless.

Now that a gazillion years have passed, is SDL a good option for RTG gamecoding now?

In a few months from now I am going to be in need of a properly working SDL that performs reasonably well on RTG cards with 128MB VRAM.  Does such a SDL currently exist?

Will SDL RTG for example on one of those Radeon 256MB gfx cards everybody buys these days: will SDL use the Radeon SUPERDUPER BLITTER from hell to do high speed blitting?  Or does it still use the CPU to move each pixel one at a time like it used to do?