I just bought a new laptop and instead of just installing ubuntu on it right away as I usually do, I think I may try to use it with the Windows OS it came with. I haven't used Windows in a long long time and I would like to know if you guys have any advice on how to set it up for C++ development.
Since the laptop comes with an OK graphics card, I would love to try my hand at programming it with OpenCL, and some advice on how to set that up --or just what online guide to use-- would be great.
Thanks!
Windows development setup
I've not used OpenCL, however as far as I can tell there's only a few things you need to install, and most of it is generic for any game development you want to do:
1. MSVC++ 2010 Express.
2. DirectX SDK (if you need it for rendering, OpenGL you don't need a special SDK for).
3. Latest graphics card drivers.
4. An appropriate OpenCL SDK. For example http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-toolkit or http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK/Pages/default.aspx
They should all be straightforward to install, and all comes with documentation. I'd suggest installing MSVC++ first, as some SDKs will integrate themselves into the path settings on install to save you doing it manually.
1. MSVC++ 2010 Express.
2. DirectX SDK (if you need it for rendering, OpenGL you don't need a special SDK for).
3. Latest graphics card drivers.
4. An appropriate OpenCL SDK. For example http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-toolkit or http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK/Pages/default.aspx
They should all be straightforward to install, and all comes with documentation. I'd suggest installing MSVC++ first, as some SDKs will integrate themselves into the path settings on install to save you doing it manually.
How about CMake and TDM-GCC? No reason to buy into the platform-lock.
That seems pretty bad reasoning. The OP has already declared that his usual preference is for a Linux development environment so your answer is not in the least helpful to the question he is specifically asking. Plenty of reasons to buy into the platform lock too, with one very valid one being an opportunity to broaden your experience, skillset and knowledge.
For OpenCL, make sure you install an OpenCL-enabled graphics driver appropriate to your card (I know some manufacturers don't bother to install the proper driver and just use the generic, graphics-only one). There aren't many OpenCL tutorials around on the internet but the SDK is a good starting point. By the way, you can use OpenCL on Linux (I think you know that though, was just unsure from your post whether you wanted to keep Windows just because of OpenCL)
Author
mhagain is right: The whole point of this exercise is to experience programming from an environment that is very popular and unknown to me. If I want a familiar environment, I'll install Linux.
I am having some trouble getting the AMD APP SDK examples to work, but for now it has more to do with configuring Visual C++ correctly to find the headers and libraries. I was hoping installing the SDK would take care of it, but it didn't. If my drivers are not appropriate, I'll find out later.
Yup, I know OpenCL will work on Linux.
This is a busy week and I don't think I'll have an opportunity to play around with this again until the weekend. Thank you all for the help so far.
I am having some trouble getting the AMD APP SDK examples to work, but for now it has more to do with configuring Visual C++ correctly to find the headers and libraries. I was hoping installing the SDK would take care of it, but it didn't. If my drivers are not appropriate, I'll find out later.
Yup, I know OpenCL will work on Linux.
This is a busy week and I don't think I'll have an opportunity to play around with this again until the weekend. Thank you all for the help so far.
This topic is closed to new replies.
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