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Comment by drchewbacca | Hacker News Reader

It looks like it's just applying a bunch of filters/convolutions to the image. You could write it in C++ to be pretty quick, in CUDA you could get it down to microseconds I think.

Though that does not take account of the latency of the webcam itself.

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Too bad you can't get CUDA easily on a recent Macintosh.

Huh? https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-installation-guide-mac-os-...

MacBooks haven't had Nvidia GPUs for a few years.

They have also supported eGPUS for years though...

You’ll also need an NVIDIA GPU. All of the MacBooks that came with NVIDIA GPUs are from 2010 and earlier. That’s quite a while ago in computer age.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204349#nvidia

You could use one via the eGPU support in most newer Macs: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544

Yeah but then you haven’t turned a MacBook into a Touchscreen with $1 of Hardware. You’ve turned a MacBook into a Touchscreen with $price_of_GPU + $price_of_eGPU_adapter + $1.

And additionally you’ve made your MacBook a lot less portable.

I'm always amused when Mac people ask me why I don't use Macs and I tell them "I program CUDA for a living" and they respond "But you can jerry rig a PCIx slot in a box over a wonky cable plug it into your Thunderfire port" or something. As if that's a real solution.

There’s no need to do any of that. Commercially-available eGPU boxes[1] work well, no jank required.

[1]: https://www.sonnettech.com/product/egfx-breakaway-box.html

I know we frown upon the kind of comment I’m about to make but I really feel the need to point this out right here; relevant username!

Commercially available jank is still jank. And the matter of portability (why else would you be using a laptop in the first place?) still remains. Forget walking around with it around towb in a bag; if I am trying to work on my deck chair outside, where do I put that mother of all dongles? Balance it precariously on the chair's armrest? No thanks!

I wonder if Mac users are pulling our legs, or if they are True Believers. Like it or not, a significant number of people doing signal processing, simulation, AI, and even playing games, need or strongly prefer Nvidia and CUDA. And for them, Macs are not an option.

Just can't update past High Sierra. No Metal drivers for Nvidia = no longer working even with scripts.

Huh? You have to go back two versions of the OS in order to follow those instructions.

You can do all that in Metal -- though as GP said, it doesn't matter, because there's fixed latency at the camera input.

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