Yes, several people have asked about SDL on the Dreamcast. It's definitely possible. I don't have a Dreamcast, so I'm not working on it, but others, notably Overcode, are very interested in it, so it will probably happen at some point.
There aren't any plans for subwindows, but the upcoming 1.3 API has plans for much better multi-head support, and multiple top-level windows is a natural extension of that.
Right now you can use SDL with other UI toolkits using the SDL_WINDOWID hack (see the mailing list archives for details). True multi-window support is very difficult to do with the current SDL architecture.
Actually this has already been done. I don't remember the name or the link offhand, but I've seen a portable binary loader system that does exactly that.
There have been several people interested in a DOS port, and have volunteered to work on it, but each time I've said "Sure, go for it!" and never heard from them again.:)
I suspect that it wouldn't be hard to get graphics, sound and input services working under DOS, but I don't have the knowledge to do it myself and nobody else has actually done it as far as I know.
I can imagine all sorts of applications, but I haven't used the high level language bindings myself. You're probably better off asking the people who have written the language bindings, and people who have written games and applications using them.
Well, nobody at Blizzard has mentioned it.:)
I believe in their FAQ they specifically say there are no plans to run on Linux or any other additional operating systems.
Having worked with all different aspects on porting games to Linux, I think I can safely say that most of the technical challenges in writing a commercial quality game for Linux have been solved.
What needs to continue to happen is for awareness of Linux as a viable daily desktop to grow. This includes expanding the open source software that people are writing, games (of course), desktop applications, and hardware drivers and support.
Sure. I am continuing to work on SDL in my spare time. There are also a host of other developers who are doing the same thing. This is pretty much how SDL has grown for the past few years, so I'm fairly sure it will continue to improve and meet game development needs.
2D with SDL on the PlayStation 2 uses DMA to transfer images to the screen, and is fairly fast. SDL also takes advantage of hardware YUV -> RGB conversion and hardware image scaling.
As for 3D, SDL just provides an interface to the native OpenGL implementation. There is a port of Mesa to the PS2, but as of the Public Beta, there were lots of features which hadn't been tested and some things which didn't work due to the way PS2 hardware works.
If you want to use any of the other hardware, like the custom vector units, you'll have to program them yourself.
In general, SDL speed is pretty good on the PlayStation 2. However, in my experience, games which require a lot of memory or lots of floating point will be fairly slow.
SDL isn't a magic wand, you still have to take the advantages and disadvantages of your target platforms into consideration for the best performance of your game.
Actually I don't know if it works with the development kit. It's actually been ported to the Sony PS2 Linux Beta, which is only publicly available in Japan right now.
Slashdot Mirror
You can get updates:
ftp.lokigames.com/pub/updates/*
(and all the Loki mirrors will have them too)
--Sam
Hi Mike! :)
--Sam
Yes, several people have asked about SDL on the Dreamcast. It's definitely possible. I don't have a Dreamcast, so I'm not working on it, but others, notably Overcode, are very interested in it, so it will probably happen at some point.
--Sam
There aren't any plans for subwindows, but the upcoming 1.3 API has plans for much better multi-head support, and multiple top-level windows is a natural extension of that.
Right now you can use SDL with other UI toolkits using the SDL_WINDOWID hack (see the mailing list archives for details). True multi-window support is very difficult to do with the current SDL architecture.
--Sam
Nope, creating a good API has been enough work. :)
Actually this has already been done. I don't remember the name or the link offhand, but I've seen a portable binary loader system that does exactly that.
--Sam
There have been several people interested in a DOS port, and have volunteered to work on it, but each time I've said "Sure, go for it!" and never heard from them again. :)
I suspect that it wouldn't be hard to get graphics, sound and input services working under DOS, but I don't have the knowledge to do it myself and nobody else has actually done it as far as I know.
--Sam
I can imagine all sorts of applications, but I haven't used the high level language bindings myself. You're probably better off asking the people who have written the language bindings, and people who have written games and applications using them.
--Sam
Well, nobody at Blizzard has mentioned it. :)
I believe in their FAQ they specifically say there are no plans to run on Linux or any other additional operating systems.
--Sam
Having worked with all different aspects on porting games to Linux, I think I can safely say that most of the technical challenges in writing a commercial quality game for Linux have been solved.
What needs to continue to happen is for awareness of Linux as a viable daily desktop to grow. This includes expanding the open source software that people are writing, games (of course), desktop applications, and hardware drivers and support.
--Sam
Sure. I am continuing to work on SDL in my spare time. There are also a host of other developers who are doing the same thing. This is pretty much how SDL has grown for the past few years, so I'm fairly sure it will continue to improve and meet game development needs.
--Sam
Heheh. Well, I haven't had any suits in shades knocking on my door, so that's a good sign. :)
--Sam
2D with SDL on the PlayStation 2 uses DMA to transfer images to the screen, and is fairly fast. SDL also takes advantage of hardware YUV -> RGB conversion and hardware image scaling.
As for 3D, SDL just provides an interface to the native OpenGL implementation. There is a port of Mesa to the PS2, but as of the Public Beta, there were lots of features which hadn't been tested and some things which didn't work due to the way PS2 hardware works.
If you want to use any of the other hardware, like the custom vector units, you'll have to program them yourself.
In general, SDL speed is pretty good on the PlayStation 2. However, in my experience, games which require a lot of memory or lots of floating point will be fairly slow.
SDL isn't a magic wand, you still have to take the advantages and disadvantages of your target platforms into consideration for the best performance of your game.
Actually I don't know if it works with the development kit. It's actually been ported to the Sony PS2 Linux Beta, which is only publicly available in Japan right now.
--Sam @ Blizzard
Actually, I ported it, while working for Loki.
I have since added support for TV output.