Hi. I'd like to know, is ARM Mali had its own assembler instruction set just like ARM main processor? If so, can I have any list of the instruction along with its opcode? Also, I had a Zyrex ZM7831 ARM tablet models, could it be having the same ARM main processor and ARM GPU processor just like any other tablets? I mean, on intel system, each brand has it own device manufacture and sometime it does not standard. I'd like to toying with my device just like Im toying up with my intel laptops by direct acess it using assembler just for fun like optimizing it or just experimenting using OpenGL to create a nice lighting effect. I'd like to do the same with my tablets.
Hi Farabionan,
Mali GPU's do have their own instruction set, but this is not something ARM publish. However, the best way to program a GPU is to use a standard API - in mobile devices it will usually be OpenGL ES version 1.1 or 2.0. With 2.0 you can create programs that run on the GPU itself using vertex and fragment shaders. The great thing about doing it this way is that as long as the GPU on a device is compatible with the standard, what you have written will work regardless of the brand, whilst still allowing you to work "closely" to the hardware. If you are not familiar with it I would search around for a good tutorial on the subject.
Regarding your ZM7831, I believe that may be based on the SoC from MediaTek MT8389. If so, this includes 4 ARM CPU cores but not a Mali GPU - it has instead a PowerVR SGX544 from Imagination. This still gives you full compatibility with OpenGL ES 2.0.
Hope that helps,
Tim