docs/README.BEOS

   1
   2                          Mesa / BeOS Information
   3
   4
   5
   6 * Introduction
   7
   8 Mesa 4.1 features a driver for the BeOS.  The driver implements
   9 a clone of the BGLView class.  This class, derived from BView, allows
  10 OpenGL rendering into a BeOS window.
  11 The 4.1 BeOS driver is an update of Brian Paul's BeOS driver released in Mesa 3.1.
  12
  13 Any application which uses the BGLView should be able to use Mesa
  14 instead of Be's OpenGL without changing any code.
  15
  16 Since Be's OpenGL implementation (as of R5) is basically just the
  17 SGI sample implementation, it's pretty slow.  You'll see that Mesa
  18 is considerably faster.
  19
  20
  21
  22 * Source Code
  23
  24 The source code for the driver is in Mesa-4.1/src/BeOS/ directory.
  25 It's not 100% finished at this time but many GLUT-based demos are
  26 working.  No optimizations have been made at this time.
  27
  28
  29
  30 * Compiling
  31
  32 Requirements:
  33   - gcc version 2.95.3 for BeOS
  34   You can find it here: http://www.bebits.com/app/2157
  35
  36 Move to the Mesa-4.x src sub-directory and then type "make -f Makefile.BeOS-R5".
  37 When it finishes the Mesa based libGL.so library for
  38 BeOS will be in the Mesa-4.x/src/obj.{x86|ppc}/ directory.
  39
  40 To install it as Be's default libGL.so replacement, put it in your
  41 /boot/home/config/lib/ directory. All your GL/GLUTapps will use
  42 the Mesa based then.
  43
  44 By default, it build a non-debug version library.
  45 The x86 (MMX, SSE and 3DNOW) optimizations are also supported for x86 target.
  46 Sorry, Mesa don't have ppc (Altivec) optimizations yet.
  47
  48
  49 * Example Programs
  50
  51 Look in the Mesa-4.x/BeOS/ directory for one or two BGLView demo
  52 programs.  They should have been compiled along with the Mesa
  53 library.
  54
  55
  56 * GLUT
  57
  58 A beta version of GLUT 3.7 port for BeOS can be found at
  59 http://anobject.com/jehamby/Code/Glut-3.7-x86.zip.
  60
  61 There's is a 2.5 version in src-glut.beos/, too.
  62 The original distribution can be obtained from
  63 http://home.beoscentral.com/jehamby/Glut-3.5-x86.zip
  64
  65 They are special version of GLUT adapted for the BeOS.  I don't
  66 believe Mark Kilgard's normal GLUT distribution includes BeOS
  67 support.
  68
  69
  70 * Special Features
  71
  72 Mesa's implementation of the BGLView class has an extra member
  73 function:  CopySubBufferMESA().  It basically works like SwapBuffers()
  74 but it only copies a sub region from the back buffer to the front
  75 buffer.  This is a useful optimization for some applications.
  76 If you use this method in your code be sure that you check at runtime
  77 that you're actually using Mesa (with glGetString) so you don't
  78 cause a fatal error when running with Be's OpenGL.
  79
  80
  81
  82 * Work Left To Do
  83
  84 BDirectWindow single buffering support is not implemented yet.
  85
  86 Color index mode is not implemented yet.
  87
  88 Reading pixels from the front buffer not implemented yet.
  89
  90 There is also a BGLScreen class in BeOS for full-screen OpenGL
  91 rendering.  This should also be implemented for Mesa.
  92
  93
  94
  95 * Old BeOS Driver
  96
  97 Mesa 2.6 had an earlier BeOS driver.  It was based on Mesa's Off-screen
  98 rendering interface, not BGLView.  If you're interested in the older
  99 driver you should get Mesa 2.6.
 100
 101
 102
 103 * BeOS and Glide
 104
 105 Mesa 3.0 supported the 3Dfx/Glide library on Beos.  Download Mesa 3.0
 106 if interested.  Ideally, the 3Dfx/Glide support should be updated to
 107 work with the new Mesa 3.1 BGLView implementation.
 108
 109 The Glide library hasn't been updated for BeOS R4, to my knowledge, as
 110 of February, 1999.
 111
 112
 113 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 114 $Id: README.BEOS,v 1.7 2002/09/19 16:19:44 brianp Exp $