yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[G Tablet Android Development] nvanlaar:
I nvflashed the standard/stock/non LBS 1.2bl ROM and have no issues... I would recomend doing the nvglash format prior to flashing a ROM, then you are guaranteed an absolutely clean install.

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[G Tablet Android Development] :
hardware acceleration

so hes lying about hardware acceleration?
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
so it appears. Unless he was able to get his hands on Nvidea drivers for our hardware, to work with the source for an operating system that hasn't been released, then hardware acceleration does NOT work on Illuminate, or Flashback, or Gtabcomb, or BOS, or CM7, or Vegan ginger. Hardware acceleration ONLY works on Android 2.2 on the Gtablet.

Now, what I've been attempting to figure out is how much, exactly, hardware accelerations importance plays in our present and future. I've been holding off on using any HC roms as my daily driver due to lack of drivers and hardware acceleration. BUT, if it really means very little, then what the hell am I waiting for? (certainly NOT the camera, I can live without it's 1.3 megapixels)
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
You are funny TJEvans that comment about the 1.3 megapixel camera was priceless. Well many have taken to the VS discussion forum asking VS for the same thing the drives. Some say they are reading the thread. I saw pages and pages of complaints.

As a daily driver of HC for about 45 days I haven't looked backwards to froyo or GB anything. I've been flashing different roms since I got g tab. HC is it for me and I was slow to pull the trigger. Considering anything but having HC dates your hardware meaning it is easier to guess the release period. I hope VS does us right and release the drivers or an updated rom version with new advancements. It has been awhile.
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
On Hardware Acceleration...

Android 3.0 Platform Highlight Shows Hardware Acceleration, Multi-Core Support is Finally Here

Our biggest wish was granted: hardware acceleration – the trick that makes iOS run so smoothly – is now a part of Android starting with version 3.0 Honeycomb. (That damned Google Code issue can finally be put to rest.) This was one of many changes highlighted by Google today. Among 2D and 3D hardware acceleration, developers can look forward to a revamped UI framework to create great-looking apps for tablets, support for multicore architectures, better multimedia support, enhanced connectivity options (mainly Bluetooth) and enhancements to enterprise features. A full list of the changes can be found at the Android 3.0 Platform Highlight page, as well as links to the newly-updated SDK, NDK, and ADT. We’ll be digging through the entirety of the list of changes soon enough, and we hope to have a breakdown for you guys in the coming moments.

From the Android Developers Forum

Android 3.0 Hardware Acceleration

One of the biggest changes we made to Android in this release is the addition of a new rendering pipeline so that applications can benefit from hardware accelerated 2D graphics. Hardware accelerated graphics is nothing new to the Android platform, it has always been used for windows composition or OpenGL games for instance, but with this new rendering pipeline applications can benefit from an extra boost in performance. On a Motorola Xoom device, all the standard applications like Browser and Calendar use hardware-accelerated 2D graphics.

In this article, I will show you how to enable the hardware accelerated 2D graphics pipeline in your application and give you a few tips on how to use it properly.

Go faster

To enable the hardware accelerated 2D graphics, open your AndroidManifest.xml file and add the following attribute to the <application /> tag: android:hardwareAccelerated="true"

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Like LBS said hardware acceleration is working Hardware built-in to HoneyComb

Accelerated 2D graphics

Android 3.0 offers a new hardware-accelerated OpenGL renderer that gives a performance boost to many common graphics operations for applications running in the Android framework. When the renderer is enabled, most operations in Canvas, Paint, Xfermode, ColorFilter, Shader, and Camera are accelerated. Developers can control how hardware-acceleration is applied at every level, from enabling it globally in an application to enabling it in specific Activities and Views inside the application.

Renderscript 3D graphics engine

Renderscript is a runtime 3D framework that provides both an API for building 3D scenes as well as a special, platform-independent shader language for maximum performance. Using Renderscript, you can accelerate graphics operations and data processing. Renderscript is an ideal way to create high-performance 3D effects for applications, wallpapers, carousels, and more...

...and also starting with Flash 10.2 Updates: Includes Hardware Accelerated Video and Enhanced Browser Integration for Android 3.1.
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
cool article. Would be cooler if I knew anything about creating android apps, I'm sure.

So, the article describes how utilize hardware acceleration when creating an android 3.0 APP. What I still don't know is if the hardware we have, without supported drivers, is actually performing this operation?

Edirector, could you possible run an Antutu test on your machine and report the 2D and 3D rendering results? Antutu is free and won't flub anything up. I'm just curious to see the numbers. If they are the same as the results in Froyo, then the drivers for graphics acceleration are not needed. I mean, we know that we have drivers for Froyo, and we know that we don't have drivers for GB or HC. What I'm trying to figure out is whether that matters or not.

if it wouldn't be a problem, could you possibly run that test?

I'm just really curious.

Yes, I could Flash a HC rom and test it myself, but the problem I have is that I actually USE my Gtablet on a dailiy basis for music. I can't take the chance that I'll lose any information, and end up spending all day trying to get my information back, rather than spending that time practicing, transposing, creating drum lines, etc...

Letme know if it's a problem, and I'll try to find somebody else that can appease my curiosity.
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
OK. I am running the 2.0 version of illuminate because I love the fast loading browser and overall zippy-ness of it. Here is the AnTuTu Benchmark v2.1 results...

Ram: 743

CPU Integer: 1119

CPU float-point: 1010

2D graphics: 344

3D graphics: 1029

Database IO: 265

SD card write: 2.7 MB/s 27

SD Card read: 10.1 MB/s 101

Total Score: 4643

CPU Frequency: 1000 MHz

Date: 2011-08-07 00:41

But I hope this helps.
[G Tablet Android Development] nvanlaar:
Here are my results:

I got similar results regardless of overclocking or not.

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[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
Thanks! I wasn't up for that part of the challenge. Never mind nvanlaar I saw what you used to upload the pics, thanks for the back up! At least it is indisputable that hardware acceleration does work.

The developer did not lie about hardware acceleration in illuminate.
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
Well, there we have it...what exactly DOES Hardware acceleration DO? I noticed that you are not overclocked, too. Nvanlaar is. I'm running Calk/Clem, OCed 1500

Ram: 868

CPU Integer: 1618

CPU float-point: 1462

2D graphics: 310

3D graphics: 1080

Database IO: 545

SD card write: 9.1 MB/s 91

SD Card read: 11.6 MB/s 116

Total Score: 6090CPU

Frequency: 1500 MHz

Date: 2011-08-07 01:17

The biggest difference, I can see, collectively is the Database IO score. You and I have a major difference in SD Card write speed, but Nvanlaar's is better than mine...

SO, I ask again, what exactly does hardware acceleration give us? I'm on Froyo, which is supposed to have hardware acceleration officially working. You guys supposedly don't have the drivers for it.

I'd be curious to get some scores for Gtabcomb and Flashback posted as well to compare the graphics rendering scores.
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
That is yet to be determined. What we need to figure out is what exactly hardware acceleration does, and whether it's even relevent. If folks with any GB rom or any of the other HC roms have similar graphics scores, then it's safe to say that graphics are not dependant on hardware acceleration.

Regardless of what hardware acceleration does, it's not possible unless the drivers exist to ehem, accelerate the hardware. No drivers, no acceleration. What I think we're finding out, though, is that hardware acceleration isn't as important as we (I at least) may have thought. Just like the flash incident at the beginning of this Rom. LBS may have found a way to repilcate hardware acceleration. That doesn't mean that he got it working (becuase as stated prior, he can't, unless he has drivers). If this is the case, though, I do applaud him for that. But rather than stating that he got it working, he should instead state that hardwarea acceleration is not needed for XYZ...know what I mean? I just really don't like dishonest people.

Even using the browser hardware acceleration tests earlier in this thread. The highest NCCU got his was 4 FPS. I got 12 FPS. The problem is, that test is dependant on the netowrk speed, the browser your using, etc. There are too many variables. That test made it look like it WASN'T working. This test made it look like is IS working...however, like I said, we may find out that it doesn't matter if it's working...
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
Did you read the article http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-3.0-highlights.html because it did state it specifically -- standard applications like Browser and Calendar use hardware-accelerated 2D graphics.

"A new hardware-accelerated OpenGL renderer that gives a performance boost to many common graphics operations for applications running in the Android framework."

Like I said indisputable, hardware acceleration does work in illuminate.

FPS was running at 48 when I was running the AnTuTu benchmark. That site kicked back a low FPS for my laptop and I am using a high end graphics card.

I will take the Android developer's and Google's word for it over hypothesis. Since they are clearly stating it was included in HoneyComb. In addition I loaded SpeedX 3D and it works great.
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
I'm also reading another forum right now dealing with hardware acceleration on android phones. Somebody there is trying ot figure this out too. One response stated that the hardware acceleration in android programs also depends on the software itself, specifically dealing with browsers.

So, if the app doesn't USE acceleration, then it's a moot point. What I found most humorous in that tread is that they stated that live wallpapers tend to be the most demanding on graphics hardware acceleration. I never use those battery drains, anyway, so it wouldn't matter to me. I can't stand live wallpapers.

and if there are people on GB or any other HC rom that have similar scores as us, KNOWING that they DO NOT have hardware acceleration, then will you agree to agree with me that hardware acceleration may actually NOT be working on Illuminate? As said, if he doesn't have drivers for the hardware, then he can't accelerate it. It's a given fact that can not be argued.

I'm just persuing this to find out what exactly hardware acceleration is supposed to be doing. the Antutu test may not text for acceleration, just standard FPS, which we will all have similar scores, since we all have the same hardware.

Please don't get caught up with LBS and make the same unsubstantiated claims that he's made. I told you before that similar test scores doesn't necessarily mean that HA is working, but it may mean that it doesn't matter.
[G Tablet Android Development] nccu_eagles:
man just do a backup of your current rom and then flash this one use it for a day or two and if it doesn't zooom zoooooom enough for you just flash back. LOL you have successfully made three of us your test dummies....
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
Of course, this entire discussion can be put to rest of LBS were to come here in person and explain how he was able to get device drivers from NVidea to make Hardware acceleration to work. Or at the very least, how he was able to prove that it IS working, so that he could make that claim in the first place.
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
Sorry, but I thought that was what a "community" does. I've done hundreds of tests for people that requested them. I've even done them without a request, just to be a nice guy. It wasn't to prove that the rom I was using was better then theirs. It wasn't to prove anything, it was to HELP them, either get out of a jam, or make a decision. You've run tests for me, and I appreciate it. I appreciate what Edirector and NV have done as well.

The issue at hand is that the creator of illuminate has made a claim that technically shouldn't be possible. Yes, he does it for free, yes, people like his rom. I'm just trying to figure out what the hell hardware acceleration actually does. I do know, for a fact, that it shouldn't be possible unless drivers exist, And as far as I know, they do not.

And once again, all we need is for LBS to come hee and inform everyone how he did it, or how he noticed that it was working...and if he could, what in bloody hell it does.
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
It is built into HoneyComb that was clearly outlined in the article. So not only is it working for illuminate, but for flashback, GTabComb and all the rest. That's a good thing. Now they can add it to their write up too.

Also, I downloaded some of the programs they stated 2D acceleration would work in and Paint works fine. A few were paid apps and some I couldn't find on market. To agree with what you are saying somewhat...those drivers that are still needed from Viewsonic is for the camera which also uses 2D functions.

LBS sent us an email newsletter the other day stating what he was doing. On the website he set up for support where users are posting bugs or features they will like to see daily, he has received overwhelming response and the next update is in development. Which I am excited about. That went out on August 4, 2011 and if we need a immediate answer or help we can email him at the LinuxBoxSolution website and he does answer promptly. Have you emailed him?
[G Tablet Android Development] nccu_eagles:
Can you run a test for me?
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
as long as it's not endurance running...I suck at long distances...

and if it's to see if the Captain America game is working, I know that I can't get it to run on BC or Calk/Clem, even though others can...weird situation there
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
no, but I never e-mailed Roebeet, Calkulin, Clemsyn, Pershoot, Gojimi, Rothnic, Betik, tlbardelljr, Zyhong, etc, because the tend ot believe in full disclosure, reply to their own threads, and basically make themselves a perminent fixture in these and other forums. This is kinda expected of a developer...

(I know, they do it for free, they shouldn't be "expected" to do anything, but they DO...LBS doesn't)
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
I know nccu_eagles this is exciting at least we know for a fact it does work. I remember back when we didn't have a HC rom and the devs saying Google needed to provide the drivers or developer's toolkit that would allow them to produce a good working HoneyComb rom.

Well since they were built-in to HC (the hardware acceleration, and, flash 10.2 and beyond for video acceleration with support for some Nvidia hardware if you look at the release notes) Google did step up and do what they needed to do. We just need to get VS on that same page. While our hardware Tegra chip may be similar to all others running HC, the camera is not. That would or could differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. So I can understand why the drivers could be still needed for that. It would be like trying to use WinXP drivers for Win7 it won't work.
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
He puts out a email newsletter. I like that and that is going above and beyond.
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
I thought that the camera didn't work becuase all of the Gtablet HC roms are ports of the original Tabletroms HC development, which originated on the Notion Ink Adam, that doesn't have a camera. It's irrelevent to them, so was never included.

and can you believe that the iPad has an EVEN WORSE camera than we do? They put iTouch cameras on fron and back...with a horrible .7 mp resolution...man, see what $700 gets you?
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
The camera is like something you thought you would need but turns out you don't TJEvans. I could see sitting in a coffee shop and doing a surveillance video of someone you were interested in, to watch later, or to upload online as a funny video. Since there is no flash or flickering light nobody would never figure out what you were doing. Sort of like the guy who went into the Apple store and loaded software he used to stream to himself what was going on in the store for a project. It didn't go over too well. Apple is pursuing him.

If the camera ever works on HC fine if it doesn't not really a loss. But Viewsonic does have the key to everything working on a HC rom or at least the parts that are still needing driver support. Nvidia released drivers to Adobe for flash 10.2 and beyond for functioning and enabling features on tablets, it was outlined in their release notes.

On a final note, both Motorola and Samsung updated their tablets recently. For xoom what is this the 2nd or 3rd time in a short period? That's after purchase support.
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
I hadn't heard about the applestore incident...funny.

As far as Motorla and Samsung...I guess that's what happens when the manufacturer has hte support of google...
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
case closed, I found my answer in another thread. LBS could have cleared it up just as easily, though.
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
Did anybody see this on the Android Developer's website?

Android 3.2 Platform

Welcome to Android 3.2!

Android 3.2, Revision 1 (July 2011)

Platform Highlights

New user features

Optimizations for a wider range of tablets

Android 3.2 includes a variety of optimizations across the system to ensure a great user experience on a wider range of tablet devices.

Compatibility zoom for fixed-sized apps

Android 3.2 introduces a new compatibility zoom mode that gives users a new way to view fixed-sized apps on larger devices. The new mode provides a pixel-scaled alternative to the standard UI stretching for apps that are not designed to run on larger screen sizes, such as on tablets. The new mode is accessible to users from a menu icon in the system bar, for apps that need compatibility support.

Media sync from SD card

On devices that support an SD card, users can now load media files directly from the SD card to apps that use them. A system facility makes the files accessible to apps from the system media store.
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
didn't all of our devs already figure this one out? When I was on Gtabcomb, I could access my SD card for videos and music...I think that they ALL do that.

I was also running a picture app widget that accessed photos on the SD card.
[G Tablet Android Development] nccu_eagles:
flash THIS ROM and tell me what your high score is on the jet-ski game :D
[G Tablet Android Development] TJEvans:
which CC class, what model of ski, and what course? I'll make you this deal. Once I'm done testing all sorts of video resolutions using both hardware and software decoding methods in Rockplayer for another developer, while also editing the egl.cfg file to see different results, I WILL flash Illuminate (to test the same things there). I'll also be comparing the results while playing through the dock (for my own needs)

It's been brought to my attention that hardware acceleration plays more of a role in video playback. Since we can use software decoding on certain players, most people don't actually see the big deal.

Edirector WAS correct, in that hardware acceleration is "built in" to the honeycomb OS. What needs done is an edit to the egl.cfg file to enable it. LBS has done this, so, in fact, hardware acceleration IS enabled on Illuminate, and can be activated on any other HC rom, so illuminate isn't really that special, in that regard.

Now, the question of whether it works or not. I've been told that a 1080p video file will NOT play in a certain HC rom with hardware decoding selected in Rockplayer. 780p still needs tested. In Calk/Clem, a 1080p WILL play, but not very well. It looks absolutely fantastic, but it's VERY choppy.

So, it would appear, that doing just these few tests, that hardware acceleration, while enabled in Froyo roms, to play 1080p video files, is pretty useless unless you enjoy choppy video. I guess the limitations of our hardware is starting to come out.

I honestly do not think that there is a game in existence that actually requires hardware acceleration, which is why the test results are the same, no matter what OS we are running the test on.

When I flash illuminate, I will load up my copy of Avatar in 1080p, and attempt to play it using hardware decoding. If it plays, acceleration works, if it doesn't, then acceleration doesn't work. Mind you, all I need to see is a picture, I already know that it sucks on Froyo, so I'm not loooking for it to play smoothly. If it does play smoothly, I'll barbecue myself some crow, and eat it for all of you to see...first, I'll need to find a crow to kill...

but, as stated before, with software decoding in Rockplayer, Hardware acceleration may actually never have been needed for any of this. This was the point I wanted to get to...to actually realize that we do not NEED hardware acceleration anyway, so whether it's working or not, doesn't much matter.
[G Tablet Android Development] edirector:
While you are at it TJEvans get QQplayer from market and you can play 1920p x 1080p videos with no choppiness in illuminate. You do need to download them using TubeMate or install them from a digital copy onto your G Tab but yes you can play them with no choppiness.
[G Tablet Android Development] jerdog:
LBS has been told he is not to be directing support traffic elsewhere. He will be adjusting the OP to stop saying that the only place guaranteed to get support from him is his forum. That is low and not appreciated.
[G Tablet Android Development] ByByIpad:
Resolution

Thanks to everyone bringing intelligence back to this discussion. I appreciate all the new information regarding hardware acceleration.

@edirector. Please clarify, how can we watch 1920x1080 videos on a 1080x600 resolution screen? Isn't that like 2+2=5?

Not being critical just confused on this point.

It appears that the gtablet with Honeycomb works perfectly except in the areas dealing with screen resolution over 1080x600,memory limitation due to 512 and the lack of camera driver.

Since these problems are hardware limitations and abandonment of support from Viewsonic we should consider our Honeycomb ROMs RC and thank all the devs for a job well done.

Also thanks to all the testers who have contributed meaningfully to the discussion. If we really positively need to use the camera then we can always flash back and forth to another ROM from honeycomb until the camera driver issue is resolved, if ever.

We should all be experts at flashing , by now, any ROM on our unbrickable and versatile gTab to run any app we want. I believe the future discussions will be "which ROM should I flash to use this app at this moment."

BTW, I'm currently back on 3588 with market, so I can play Plants v Zombies. LOL.