Welcome to Equalizer 0.3, a framework for the development and deployment of scalable multipipe applications, based on C++ and OpenGL. The major new feature in Equalizer 0.3 is support for the Windows XP operating system.
Equalizer 0.3 is a beta release, and therefore intended as preview and evaluation snapshot for application developers and early adopters.
Features
Equalizer provides the following major features to facilitate the development and deployment of scalable OpenGL applications. A detailed feature list can be found on the Equalizer website.
- Runtime Configurability: An Equalizer application can run on any configuration, from laptops to large scale visualization clusters, without recompilation. The runtime configuration is externalized from the application to a systemwide resource server.
- Runtime Scalability: An Equalizer application can use multiple CPU's, GPU's and computers to scale the rendering performance of a single view.
- Distributed Execution: Equalizer applications can be written to support cluster-based execution. The task of distributing the application data is facilitated by support for versioned, distributed objects.
- Support for Stereo and Immersive Environments: Equalizer supports both active and passive stereo rendering, as well as the head tracking, which is required for immersive Virtual Reality installations.
New in this release
The following features, bug fixes and documentation changes where introduced in this release:
New Features
- Support for Windows XP (i386, x64) and Visual Studio 2005
- Anaglyphic stereo rendering
- Improved distributed object support
- Standalone (server-less) application support
- Nonthreaded rendering from the main application thread
- Addressing of indidual graphic cards on Windows using the WGL_NV_gpu_affinity extension
- Support for explicit SDP connections
- New tool to create typical configuration files
- New Equalizer-based benchmark tool for pixel readback and draw operations
- New Equalizer-based benchmark tool for network bandwidth
- Support and example code for resident (pre-started) render clients
- Support for application-specific config events
Bug Fixes
Equalizer 0.3 includes various bugfixes over the previous release.
New Documentation
- Anaglyphic Stereo
- Nonthreaded Rendering
- Infiniband Setup and Configuration
- Resident Render Clients
- Standalone Application Support
- Node Connection Setup
- Configuration Tool
Known Bugs
Supported Platforms
Equalizer is a cross-platform toolkit, designed to run on any modern operating system, including all Unix variants and the Windows operating system. Version 0.3 has been tested on:
Operating System Support
- Linux: Ubuntu 6.10 (x64, i386), RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 (x64, i386)
- Windows: XP with Visual Studio 2005 (i386, x64)
- Mac OS X: 10.4 (PowerPC, i386)
Window System Support
- X11: Full support for all documented features.
- WGL: Full support for all documented features.
- CGL: Preliminary support: fullscreen only, no event handling
Documentation
Equalizer does not yet have a formal Users or Programmers Guide. The shipped eqPly example provides a reference for developing or porting applications. The Developer Documentation on the website provides further design documents for specific features. The source code is a last resort for information.
Support
Technical questions can be posted to the Developer Mailing List, or directly to info@equalizergraphics.com.
Commercial support, custom software development and porting services are available from Tungsten Graphics. Please contact sales@tungstengraphics.com for further information.
