Question about vlc: you will need Linux kernel 2.4.x or later

[Samuel Hocevar]

On Sat, Jan 05, 2002, jgcc at pacbell.net wrote:

> warning: your OS doesn't have support for SSE instructions, some optimizations
> will be disabled
> (you will need Linux kernel 2.4.x or later)
> 
> 1) I am running on a dual cpu Intel PIII (550 Mhz). I suppose this means
> that my chipset does not support SSE?

   The PIII class of CPUs does have SSE instructions. I think (not sure
though) they go together with the xmm flag.

> 2) However, do I understand correctly that I cannot really run vlc
> unless I upgrade my kernel to 2.4?

   Yes you can, you just won't be able to use SSE-accelerated plugins,
but for each of them there is a default plugin written in plain C. It
won't be as fast, but it doesn't make a big difference (the plugins are
imdct and downmix, which are used for AC3 decoding, while the big CPU
cycles are eaten in the video decoder, which has MMX EXT accelerated
versions, and you don't need to have 2.4 to use MMX EXT).

> Can I go out and buy a DVD player now, or must I wait until I can
> run 2.4 to play dvds with vlc?

   You can buy one at once :-) Perhaps we should make the warning
message a bit clearer about its non-lethalness.

Regards,
-- 
Sam.