RelNotes.dox

<ul>
  <li><a href="#introduction">1. Introduction</a></li>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#features">1.1. Features</a></li>
  </ul>
  <li><a href="#new">2. New in this release</a></li>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#newFeatures">2.1. New Features</a></li>
    <li><a href="#enhancements">2.2. Enhancements</a></li>
    <li><a href="#optimizations">2.3. Optimizations</a></li>
    <li><a href="#examples">2.4. Examples</a></li>
    <li><a href="#tools">2.5. Tools</a></li>
    <li><a href="#documentation">2.6. Documentation</a></li>
    <li><a href="#bugfixes">2.7. Bug Fixes</a></li>
    <li><a href="#knownbugs">2.8. Known Bugs</a></li>
  </ul>
  <li><a href="#about">3. About</a></li>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#os">3.1. Operating System Support</a></li>
    <li><a href="#ws">3.2. Window System Support</a></li>
    <li><a href="#documentation">3.3. Documentation</a></li>
    <li><a href="#support">3.4. Support</a></li>
  </ul>
  <li><a href="#errata">4. Errata</a></li>
</ul>

<a name="introduction"></a>
<h2>1. Introduction</h2>
<p>
  Welcome to Equalizer, the standard middleware to create and deploy parallel,
  scalable OpenGL applications. This release introduces major new features, most
  notably asynchronous readbacks, region of interest and thread affinity for
  increased performance during scalable rendering.
</p>
<p>
  Equalizer 1.4 is a feature release extending the 1.0 API, distilling over
  seven years of development and decades of experience into a feature-rich,
  high-performance and mature parallel rendering framework and an
  object-oriented high-level network library. It is intended for all application
  developers creating parallel, interactive OpenGL applications. Equalizer 1.4
  can be retrieved by downloading the
  <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/downloads/Equalizer-1.3.6.tar.gz">source
    code</a> or one of the <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/downloads/developer.html">precompiled packages</a>.
</p>

<a name="features"></a>
<h3>1.1. Features</h3>
<p>
  Equalizer provides the following major features to facilitate the development
  and deployment of scalable OpenGL applications. A
  <a href="/features.html">detailed feature list</a> can be found on the
  Equalizer website.
</p>
<ul>
  <li><b>Runtime Configurability:</b> An Equalizer application is configured
    automatically or manually at runtime and can be deployed on laptops,
    multi-GPU workstations and large-scale visualization clusters without
    recompilation.</li>
  <li><b>Runtime Scalability:</b> An Equalizer application can benefit from
    multiple graphics cards, processors and computers to scale rendering
    performance, visual quality and display size.</li>
  <li><b>Distributed Execution:</b> Equalizer applications can be written to
    support cluster-based execution. Equalizer furnishes and uses the Collage
    network library, a cross-platform C++ library for building heterogenous,
    distributed applications.</li>
  <li><b>Support for Stereo and Immersive Environments:</b> Equalizer supports
    stereo rendering head tracking, head-mounted displays and other advanced
    features for immersive Virtual Reality installations.</li>
</ul>

<a name="new"></a>
<h2>2. New in this release</h2>
<p>
  Equalizer 1.4 contains the following features, enhancements, bug fixes
  and documentation changes:
</p>

<a name="newFeatures"></a>
<h3>2.1. New Features</h3>
<ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/documents/design/asyncCompositing.html">Asynchronous
      readback</a> support</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/57">Automatic
      CPU-GPU affinity</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/63">Application-specific
      scaling</a> to visualize data in a scale different to 1:1 in immersive
    environments</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/67">VirtualGL-aware
      auto-configuration</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/documents/design/roi.html">Region
      of interest</a> for scalable rendering and load-balancing</li>
</ul>
<ul>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/122">Zeroconf
      support and node discovery</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/116">Blocking
      co::Object::commit</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/111">Extensible
      packet dispatch</a></li>
</ul>

<a name="enhancements"></a>
<h3>2.2. Enhancements</h3>
<ul>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/70">System window
      without drawable buffer</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/123">Mac OS X: Build
      universal libraries even when AGL is enabled</a></li>
  <li>auto-config: add direct send configuration</li>
  <li>auto-config: save generated configuration to .eqc file</li>
  <li>auto-config: application-specific flags for multiprocess execution</li>
</ul>

<a name="optimizations"></a>
<h3>2.3. Optimizations</h3>
<ul>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/95">Multi-GPU NVidia
      optimization</a></li>
  <li>load_equalizer: split along longest axis in 2D mode</li>
</ul><ul>
  <li>InfiniBand RDMA: significant performance increase using a different
    underlying implementation</li>
</ul>

<a name="examples"></a>
<h3>2.4. Examples</h3>
<ul>
  <li>eqPly: Add command line option to disable region of interest</li>
  <li>eqPly: Parallel kd-tree construction when using gcc 4.4 or later</li>
  <li>eqPly: runtime-changeable model unit scaling</li>
  <li>eqPly: Create all VBOs/display lists during the first frame</li>
</ul>

<a name="tools"></a>
<h3>2.5. Tools</h3>
<ul>
  <li>eqPlyConverter: New offline tool to generate binary cache for eqPly</li>
</ul>

<a name="documentation"></a>
<h3>2.6. Documentation</h3>
<p>
  The following documentation has been added or substantially improved since the
  last release:
</p>
<ul>
  <li>Full <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/documents/Developer/API-1.4/index.html">API
      documentation</a> for the public Equalizer API</li>
  <li>The <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/survey.html">Programming and
      User Guide</a> has been extended to 107 pages and 60 figures</li>
  <li><a href="/documents/design/tileCompounds.html">Tile compounds</a>
    using a pull-based task distribution for volume rendering and interactive
    raytracing</li>
</ul>

<a name="bugfixes"></a>
<h3>2.7. Bug Fixes</h3>
<p>
  Equalizer 1.4 includes various bugfixes over the 1.2.1 release, including the
  following:
</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/147">147</a>:
    Repeated Canvas::useLayout OFF/ON causes violation of DRAW_SYNC thread
    ordering</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/139">139</a>:
    Tile compound readback broken</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/120">120</a>:
    Async readback deallocation</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/118">118</a>:
    OS X: Async readback doesn't work</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/137">137</a>:
    1-window.DFR broken</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/136">136</a>:
    compositor assertion when using custom frames</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/135">135</a>:
    Command line option --eq-layout broken</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/131">131</a>:
    seqPly --help launches application</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/127">127</a>:
    Problem with getdomainname() in SocketConnection::listen()</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/124">124</a>:
    Upload plugins are not freed</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/121">121</a>:
    Packaging: netperf conflicts with other packages</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/117">117</a>:
    Race with async channel tasks</li>
</ul>

<a name="knownbugs"></a>
<h3>2.8. Known Bugs</h3>
<p>The following bugs were known at release time. Please file a
  <a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues">Bug Report</a> if you
  find any other issue with this release.
</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/138">138</a>:
    Windows: PBO error when rendering</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/78">78</a>: AGL:
    assertion on interaction with multiple GPUs</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/77">77</a>:
    7-window.DB.PIXEL.eqc broken</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/76">76</a>:
    7-window.DPLEX.2D.lb.eqc does not load-balance</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/49">49</a>:
    eqPixelBench crash with double free</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/19">19</a>: zoom
    readback with FBO</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/18">18</a>: zoom:
    depth readback does not work</li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/issues/17">17</a>: AGL:
    Window close does not work</li>
</ul>

<a name="about"></a>
<h2>3. About</h2>
<p>
  Equalizer is a cross-platform toolkit, designed to run on any modern operating
  system, including all Unix variants and the Windows operating system. A 
  <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/compatibility.html">compatibility
  matrix</a> can be found on the Equalizer website.
</p>
<p>
  Equalizer requires at least <a href="http://www.opengl.org">OpenGL 1.1</a>,
  but uses newer OpenGL features when available. Version 1.4 has been tested on:
</p>

<a name="os"></a>
<h3>3.1. Operating System Support</h3>
<p>
  Equalizer uses CMake to create a platform-specific build environment. The
  following platforms and build environments are tested:
</p>
<ul>
  <li><b>Linux:</b> Ubuntu 11.10, 12.04, RHEL 6.1 (Makefile, i386, x64)</li>
  <li><b>Windows:</b> 7 (Visual Studio 2008, i386, x64)</li>
  <li><b>Mac OS X:</b> 10.7 (Makefile, XCode, i386, x64)</li>
</ul>

<a name="ws"></a>
<h3>3.2. Window System Support</h3>
<ul>
  <li><b>X11:</b> Full support for all documented features</li>
  <li><b>WGL:</b> Full support for all documented features</li>
  <li><b>AGL:</b> Full support for all documented features</li>
</ul>

<a name="documentation"></a>
<h3>3.3. Documentation</h3>
<p>
  The Programming and User Guide is available as a 
  <a href="https://www.createspace.com/3943261">hard-copy</a>
  and <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/survey.html">online</a>.
  The <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/documents/Developer/API-1.4/index.html">API
    documentation</a> can be found on the Equalizer website.
</p>
<p>
  As with any open source project, the available source code, in particular the
  shipped
  <a href="https://github.com/Eyescale/Equalizer/tree/1.3.5/examples">examples</a>
  provide a reference for developing or porting applications. The
  <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/doc_developer.html">Developer Documentation</a> on the website
  provides further design documents for specific features. XCode users can
  download
  a <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/documents/Developer/API-1.4/ch.eyescale.Equalizer.docset.zip">Documentation
    Set</a>.
</p>

<a name="support"></a>
<h3>3.4. Support</h3>
<p>
  Technical questions can be posted to the 
  <a href="http://www.equalizergraphics.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/eq-dev">
    Developer Mailing List</a>, or directly to
  <a href="mailto:info@equalizergraphics.com?subject=Equalizer%20question">
    info@equalizergraphics.com</a>.
</p>
<p>
  Commercial support, custom software development and porting services are
  available from <a href="http://www.eyescale.ch">Eyescale</a>. Please contact
  <a href="mailto:info@eyescale.ch?subject=Equalizer%20support">info@eyescale.ch</a>
  for further information.
</p>

<a name="errata"></a>
<h2>4. Errata</h2>