These are just my thoughts on what I feel subjectively.
I feel Windows or Linux has a long long way to go, nay not even touch the power or bring the amount of satisfaction a gaming console offers.
After playing uncharted 2 in PS3 , I feel how much optimized and how efficient the code has been written. Shame, still windows or linux fails to get past i386 stuff with all arguments i386 is same as i686, and saying there is no gain in optimization it still works no wonder and feels like 10 year old and sloooow even after having a quad core or a core 2 duo
A PS3 is a generation ahead of conventional PC's not just in hardware. Take any gaming console and I bet after using them, you won't feel your PC is even able to emulate the same game after 5 years. The reason is simple, your GPU (Graphics card) is not being utilized, quad core or its instruction set is not being utilized by your i386 OS unlike how a game on console does
A PS3 has just 256 MB RAM and another 256 MB RAM for graphics and it is able to process OS, process your 60 GB blue ray movie, process your GAME all along with running a hypervisor which is a virtual machine.
Take windows, a 1 GB is not enough for your OS!! What a shame.
Not just that, your PC will hang while copying big file, though you have 4 GB RAM if you run under linux.What a shame.
True PS3 has a cell broadband engine which is a supercomputing chip, but even a core i7 is good one with its 8 cores (physical 4 cores) but it is no match for a PS3 or XBOX or even a PS2 (go play god of war 2 in PS2 before attacking me). Not even a 1 GB graphics card be able to play the same amount of graphics in a PC, real reason, drivers and code for a console is super optimized whereas for a PC it is not, it is still old i386
Prove me wrong, don't just show crysis game, wan't every app to be so superb like how a game immerses you with gameplay. Don't just give me a script
I would love to see a super optimized OS run on a core 2, able to do wonders like a gaming console. Just dreaming
Comment from my friend: It is true that gaming consoles are remarkable in computing, but they are not like general purpose OS, where they allow multiple process to run simultaneously and gaming consoles are uniprocess and hence the difference.
I agree with my friend's comment, but I still think, conventional OS is lacking speed due to poor optimization. Does it mean, that since conventional OS supports multi tasking, it can't do high performance computing like a dedicated console? I dont know (Do you feel conventional OS like how an Aeroplane is used like a street CAR which always runs on road and never takes off?)
It's not that simple. Granted, OS aren't fully optimized for latest CPUs/GPUs. But if it was so, many apps won't simply work. Just think of Adobe Flash for example. You can build a mostly optimized OS using a Linux source base distro, like Gentoo Linux. But it's a lot of work (and pain). Sony control everything. And don't necessary keep back compatibility. So they can optimized their OS for their game console. Programming for the Cell it's quite hard and I'm not convince that GameOS is really optimized (due to hypervisor use and security mechanism). Just my two cents...
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