Re: AW: Creating a planetarium using Ruby

[Helge H. <hel...@ai...>]

Unger Richard wrote:

>Hi!
>
>Wow! Now that sounds like a really cool project!
>
>I don't think Ruby will necessarily help you here... Ruby is needed when you want to enable parallel, independant use of screens, specifically for multiple independent consoles.
>
>What you want is more of a giant "Xinerama" setup. However, IMHO Xinerama may also not be the way to go - it might be quite some work to recode that layer.
>
>Also, 20-30 Video-cards is a lot (last time I checked, I could put at most 6 in my Workstation ;) )... May I ask if you have already solved the problem of the hardware you will use?
>  
>
Well, there is usually no more than 6 or so slots.  Some multi-PCI server
boards may have more, and the multiple buses will help with
the bandwith problem too.

Dual screen cards are common.  3- or 4-screen cards are hideously 
expensive, but
I believe matrox actually have some.  So it is definitely possible to 
get to 20 screens
in a single computer, with the right hardware. 

Then there are usb to vga converters.  You can hook up as many as you like,
but such a setup won't be good for quick animation.  A multiprocessor
machine is probably a good idea when doing animations on 20 screens . . .

Helge Hafting