Hi, Everyone!  I was wondering, if one were to build an optimal
"dream" AR system from scratch, what would one use?  Has an
approved/optimal hardware list been complied. I'm leaning toward LINUX,
but am having trouble determining which frame grabber card is best.  I
also have access to some OCtanes (IRIX 6.5) and an SGI 320.  Any
opinions?

Dan Novy
Technical Supervisor
Flash Film Works

Hi Dan,

Most of the AR systems we have at the HIT Lab are based on Linux. We find
that we can get better video capture performance out of the Video 4 Linux
API than the Video For Windows API.

We mostly just used cheap bt848 ot b78 based video capture cards. For
example the Hauppauge WinTV card. With a Penitum 1.3 GHz or similar we can
capture and process 640x480 video images at 30 frames per second.

Nvidia has also provided linux drivers for all it's graphics chips, so you
can load Linux on a system with a GeForce2 GTS or GeForce Ultra2 card and
get great graphics performance.

Of course it depends how much money you want to throw at it. Most of our
Linux systems cost $1500 or less. If you are willing to spend much more
then you can get amazing results.

Hope this helps..

	Mark

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark Billinghurst 		| Human Interface Technology Laboratory
grof@h ..................	| University of Washington, Box 352-142
fax: +1-206-543-5380		| Seattle, WA 98195
On Wed, 30 May 2001, Dan Novy wrote:

>     Hi, Everyone!  I was wondering, if one were to build an optimal
> "dream" AR system from scratch, what would one use?  Has an
> approved/optimal hardware list been complied. I'm leaning toward LINUX,
> but am having trouble determining which frame grabber card is best.  I
> also have access to some OCtanes (IRIX 6.5) and an SGI 320.  Any
> opinions?
>
> Dan Novy
> Technical Supervisor
> Flash Film Works
>
>

Hi.

Right, we are using an IBM-PC system with a hauppauge WinTV, too.
You can get decent 3d acceleration with a GeForce 2 MX card, if
you don't want to spend too much money...
And we are using RedHat Linux, you can download the CD-images
from the RedHat ftp server for free.

We get about 20 frames per second with 640x480 resolution with
moderately complex 3D objects.


Bye,
  Robert.


Mark Billinghurst schrieb:
> 
> Hi Dan,
> 
> Most of the AR systems we have at the HIT Lab are based on Linux. We find
> that we can get better video capture performance out of the Video 4 Linux
> API than the Video For Windows API.
> 
> We mostly just used cheap bt848 ot b78 based video capture cards. For
> example the Hauppauge WinTV card. With a Penitum 1.3 GHz or similar we can
> capture and process 640x480 video images at 30 frames per second.
> 
> Nvidia has also provided linux drivers for all it's graphics chips, so you
> can load Linux on a system with a GeForce2 GTS or GeForce Ultra2 card and
> get great graphics performance.
> 
> Of course it depends how much money you want to throw at it. Most of our
> Linux systems cost $1500 or less. If you are willing to spend much more
> then you can get amazing results.
> 
> Hope this helps..
> 
>         Mark
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Mark Billinghurst               | Human Interface Technology Laboratory
> grof@h ..................        | University of Washington, Box 352-142
> fax: +1-206-543-5380            | Seattle, WA 98195
> On Wed, 30 May 2001, Dan Novy wrote:
> 
> >     Hi, Everyone!  I was wondering, if one were to build an optimal
> > "dream" AR system from scratch, what would one use?  Has an
> > approved/optimal hardware list been complied. I'm leaning toward LINUX,
> > but am having trouble determining which frame grabber card is best.  I
> > also have access to some OCtanes (IRIX 6.5) and an SGI 320.  Any
> > opinions?
> >
> > Dan Novy
> > Technical Supervisor
> > Flash Film Works
> >
> >