Help with new computer

[plagerism]

I just bought a new computer, and now I want to get mupen64 up and running. I am currently running Ubuntu(Debian Port) hoary. It is an 64 bit port, so I have to use a 32bit chroot until I can get the native 32 bit libs working correctly. My system is

AMD64 3000+
1gb of RAM
ATI AIW 9000 pro
Nvidia Chipset.

Now, I have been able to get Mupen64 up and running a rom, however the rom is still choppy on this system. I am assuming this is a video issue. I am currently running Xorg 6.8.2 using the stock Xorg ati drivers. I think I have tried the fglrx drivers, but had less than optimal performance from them.



I was just wondering what sucess stories people have had with a) a 64 bit operating system and b) an ati video card.

Plagerism

[ciruZ]

Try compiling mupen64 for 64 Bit. That'll make it much faster since N64 is 64 Bit

[plagerism]

In that regards, has anyone had any success compiling from source on a 64 bit system, if so any user comments on there experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in adance

Terry

[cooliscool]

Try compiling mupen64 for 64 Bit. That'll make it much faster since N64 is 64 Bit

Uh, no. The Nintendo 64 was 64-bit in the sense that it had a 64-bit GPU, not CPU.

[Hacktarux]

The nintendo 64 CPU is really a 64 bit CPU in the sense that it has 64 bits registers...

Mupen64 can't be compiled for amd64 currently, it may change later...

[ciruZ]

Uh, no. The Nintendo 64 was 64-bit in the sense that it had a 64-bit GPU, not CPU.

Well, the registers are 64 bit, as Hacktarux said. So why wouldn't you call it a 64-bit CPU?
Since the AMD64 has 64-bit registers too, it's much faster, because you don't need 2 registers for one N64 register plus the AMD64 can calculate a lot faster with 64 bit values than IA32 .
Have you ever seen a 64-bit calculation on an IA32 in Assembly? If you see it you'll know why it's slow .

[Magnade]

accutally i did some quick tests here on my familys amd64 and i did get mupen64 to compile under 64bit linux (using gentoo) all i really had to do was add -fPIC to cflags
since the ebuild doesnt yet add it

the graphics plugins look like they will be the biggest problem tho as i was getting
errors that make my think its a bug with gcc 3.4.3
glN64 does look most promising tho from the tests i did

[arnalion]

I've heard that the Nintendo 64 had two 32-bits cpu's not a singel 64. But if it had two 32-bits cpu's wouldn't the sending speed be 64-bit?

[ciruZ]

accutally i did some quick tests here on my familys amd64 and i did get mupen64 to compile under 64bit linux (using gentoo) all i really had to do was add -fPIC to cflags
since the ebuild doesnt yet add it

the graphics plugins look like they will be the biggest problem tho as i was getting
errors that make my think its a bug with gcc 3.4.3
glN64 does look most promising tho from the tests i did

PIC should be only needed for the Plugins, not for Mupen64 itself. I'm surprised if the plugins don't use -fPIC, since libraries always have to be position independent. Usually, you have to compile a libraries object files using -fPIC and link it with -shared, but on IA32 Linux it's sometimes working without -fPIC (note: only sometimes, so don't rely on this!), but I don't know why. IA32 Linux and libraries is sometimes really wired.

@arnalion: No, it uses 64-bit registers, therefore it can only be one 64-bit CPU. But it can be that there's another CPU/GPU in addition to the main CPU.

[blight]

The N64's CPU is an R4300i by SGI, it's a 64 bit CPU which can also run in 32 bit mode.
The GPU of the N64 is a modified R4300i, which is 64 bits either, and has vector instructions which work with up to 128 bits at a time iirc.

Most speed could be gained on an AMD64 by using the 8 additional registers which were added. Most RISC CPUs (the R4300i is a RISC CPU) have more registers than x86, thats why it is harder/slower to emulate CISC on RISC than the other way - you need a whole lot more memory accesses because of the missing registers.

What really makes AMD64 fast are the 8 new registers, not the 64 bits.