Researchers at Binghamton University recently became the first to create an open source graphics processor unit (GPU). The GPU they created, called Nyami, is appropriate for general purposes as well as graphics-specific work.
Nyami is important in the research, computing, and open source communities because it is the first instance of open source being used to design a GPU. It is also the first time a research team has tested how various hardware and software setups impact GPU performance. The findings from the researchers’ experiments are now part of the open source community, helping others to build on the original team’s work. Timothy Miller, an assistant professor of computer science at Binghamton, states that as more people create their own GPUs using open source, it will elevate computing power to a new level.
GPUs have been around for a long time—they are usually found on the graphics cards inside computers and gaming consoles. They are designed to enhance graphics and images, making them look more vivid and realistic on screens. Nowadays, computer scientists are exploring other ways to use GPUs, including tasks that don’t involve graphics, like handling large data sets and running algorithms. The Binghamton researchers aimed to use open source to build a new tool, showing that experimenting and testing can take something well-established to a whole new level.
Open source software is particularly suited to fueling the kind of testing, creativity and experimentation required to push the boundaries in computing. In this case, researchers took something familiar and often-used, a GPU, and created something new. The modifications and experiments future hobbyists and researchers perform using open source will show how changes will act upon mainstream computer chips, and will ultimately result in advances for the greater good.