GPULib 1.6.2 released

GPULib 1.6.2 has been released today! Updates include:

• support for CUDA 5.5
• updated to MAGMA 1.4
• improved syntax in GPUEXECUTEFUNCTION
• self-extracting executable installer on Linux and package installer on OS X
• small bug fixes

We intend to keep updating GPULib to use the newest versions of IDL and CUDA as those packages are released. If you need a different combination of IDL and CUDA, please let us know.

The update to MAGMA 1.4 should fix some of the issues that some were experiencing with GPUINVERT at particular matrix sizes.

For the most part, we updated the libraries that GPULib is built on in this release and not added new features, but there is one new convenience in using GPUEXECUTEFUNCTION in GPULb 1.6.2. After reading PTX code and loading a module and function, the CUDA kernel can be launched with the nicer syntax:

  gpuExecuteFunction, kernel, $
                      dx, $
                      dy, $
                      dz, $
                      n, $
                      GRID=[nBlocksPerGrid], $
                      BLOCKS=[nThreadsPerBlock], $
                      ERROR=err

instead of the old, cumbersome syntax of calling the _getHandle method for each GPU variable:

  gpuExecuteFunction, kernel, $
                      dx->_getHandle(), $
                      dy->_getHandle(), $
                      dz->_getHandle(), $
                      n, $
                      GRID=[nBlocksPerGrid], $
                      BLOCKS=[nThreadsPerBlock], $
                      ERROR=err

It should be possible to get the full functionality of GPULib without calling any of the private methods of the GPUVariable class now.