docs/intro.html

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   3 <TITLE>Mesa Introduction</TITLE>
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   7 <H1>Introduction</H1>
   8
   9 <p>
  10 Mesa is a 3-D graphics library with an API which is very similar to
  11 that of <a href="http://www.opengl.org/" target="_parent">OpenGL</a>.*
  12 To the extent that Mesa utilizes the OpenGL command syntax or state
  13 machine, it is being used with authorization from <a
  14 href="http://www.sgi.com/" target="_parent">Silicon Graphics,
  15 Inc.</a>(SGI). However, the author does not possess an OpenGL license
  16 from SGI, and makes no claim that Mesa is in any way a compatible
  17 replacement for OpenGL or associated with SGI. Those who want a
  18 licensed implementation of OpenGL should contact a licensed
  19 vendor.
  20 </p>
  21
  22 <p>
  23 Please do not refer to the library as <em>MesaGL</em> (for legal
  24 reasons). It's just <em>Mesa</em> or <em>The Mesa 3-D graphics
  25 library</em>. <br>
  26 </p>
  27
  28 <p>
  29 * OpenGL is a trademark of <a href="http://www.sgi.com/"
  30 target="_parent">Silicon Graphics Incorporated</a>.
  31 </p>
  32
  33
  34 <H1>Project History</H1>
  35
  36 <p>
  37 The Mesa project was founded by me, Brian Paul.  Here's a short history
  38 of the project.
  39 </p>
  40
  41 <p>
  42 August, 1993: I begin working on Mesa in my spare time.  The project
  43 has no name at that point.  I was simply interested in writing a simple
  44 3D graphics library that used the then-new OpenGL API.  I was partially
  45 inspired by the <em>VOGL</em> library which emulated a subset of IRIS GL.
  46 I had been programming with IRIS GL since 1991.
  47 </p>
  48
  49 <p>
  50 November 1994: I contact SGI to ask permission to distribute my OpenGL-like
  51 graphics library on the internet.  SGI was generally receptive to the
  52 idea and after negotiations with SGI's legal department, I get permission
  53 to release it.
  54 </p>
  55
  56 <p>
  57 February 1995: Mesa 1.0 is released on the internet.  I expected that
  58 a few people would be interested in it, but not thousands.
  59 I was soon receiving patches, new features and thank-you notes on a
  60 daily basis.  That encouraged me to continue working on Mesa.  The
  61 name Mesa just popped into my head one day.  SGI had asked me not to use
  62 the terms <em>"Open"</em> or <em>"GL"</em> in the project name and I didn't
  63 want to make up a new acronym.  Later, I heard of the Mesa programming
  64 language and the Mesa spreadsheet for NeXTStep.
  65 </p>
  66
  67 <p>
  68 In the early days, OpenGL wasn't available on too many systems.
  69 It even took a while for SGI to support it across their product line.
  70 Mesa filled a big hole during that time.
  71 For a lot of people, Mesa was their first introduction to OpenGL.
  72 I think SGI recognized that Mesa actually helped to promote
  73 the OpenGL API, so they didn't feel threatened by the project.
  74 </p>
  75
  76
  77 <p>
  78 1995-1996: I continue working on Mesa both during my spare time and during
  79 my work hours at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University
  80 of Wisconsin in Madison.  My supervisor, Bill Hibbard, lets me do this because
  81 Mesa is now being using for the <a href="http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/%7Ebillh/vis.html" target="_parent">Vis5D</a> project.
  82 </p><p>
  83 October 1996: Mesa 2.0 is released.  It implementes the OpenGL 1.1 specification.
  84 </p>
  85
  86 <p>
  87 March 1997: Mesa 2.2 is released.  It supports the new 3dfx Voodoo graphics
  88 card via the Glide library.  It's the first really popular hardware OpenGL
  89 implementation for Linux.
  90 </p>
  91
  92 <p>
  93 September 1998: Mesa 3.0 is released.  It's the first publicly-available
  94 implementation of the OpenGL 1.2 API.
  95 </p>
  96
  97 <p>
  98 March 1999: I attend my first OpenGL ARB meeting.  I contribute to the
  99 development of several official OpenGL extensions over the years.
 100 </p>
 101
 102 <p>
 103 September 1999: I'm hired by Precision Insight, Inc.  Mesa is a key
 104 component of 3D hardware acceleration in the new DRI project for XFree86.
 105 Drivers for 3dfx, 3dLabs, Intel, Matrox and ATI hardware soon follow.
 106 </p>
 107
 108 <p>
 109 October 2001: Mesa 4.0 is released.
 110 It implements the OpenGL 1.3 specification.
 111 </p>
 112
 113
 114 <p>
 115 November 2001: I cofound <a href="http://www.tungstengraphics.com" target="_parent">
 116 Tungsten Graphics, Inc.</a> with Keith Whitwell, Jens Owen, David Dawes and
 117 Frank LaMonica.
 118 I continue to develop Mesa as part of my resposibilities with Tungsten
 119 Graphics and as a spare-time project.
 120 </p>
 121
 122 <p>
 123 November 2002: Mesa 5.0 is released.
 124 It implements the OpenGL 1.4 specification.
 125 </p>
 126
 127 <p>
 128 Ongoing: Mesa is used as the core of many hardware OpenGL drivers for XFree86
 129 within the
 130 <A href="http://dri.sourceforge.net/" target="_parent">DRI project</A>.
 131 I continue to enhance Mesa with new extensions and features.
 132 </p>
 133
 134
 135
 136 <H1>Major Versions</H1>
 137
 138 <p>
 139 This is a summary of the major versions of Mesa.  Note that Mesa's major
 140 version number tracks OpenGL's minor version number.
 141 </p>
 142
 143
 144 <H2>Version 5.x features</H2>
 145 <p>
 146 Version 5.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.4 API with the following
 147 extensions incorporated as standard features:
 148 </p>
 149 <ul>
 150 <li>GL_ARB_depth_texture
 151 <li>GL_ARB_shadow
 152 <li>GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar
 153 <li>GL_ARB_texture_mirror_repeat
 154 <li>GL_ARB_window_pos
 155 <li>GL_EXT_blend_color
 156 <li>GL_EXT_blend_func_separate
 157 <li>GL_EXT_blend_logic_op
 158 <li>GL_EXT_blend_minmax
 159 <li>GL_EXT_blend_subtract
 160 <li>GL_EXT_fog_coord
 161 <li>GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays
 162 <li>GL_EXT_point_parameters
 163 <li>GL_EXT_secondary_color
 164 <li>GL_EXT_stencil_wrap
 165 <li>GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
 166 </ul>
 167
 168
 169 <H2>Version 4.x features</H2>
 170
 171 <p>
 172 Version 4.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.3 API with the following
 173 extensions incorporated as standard features:
 174 </p>
 175
 176 <ul>
 177 <li>GL_ARB_multisample
 178 <li>GL_ARB_multitexture
 179 <li>GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp
 180 <li>GL_ARB_texture_compression
 181 <li>GL_ARB_texture_cube_map
 182 <li>GL_ARB_texture_env_add
 183 <li>GL_ARB_texture_env_combine
 184 <li>GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3
 185 <li>GL_ARB_transpose_matrix
 186 </ul>
 187
 188 <H2>Version 3.x features</H2>
 189
 190 <p>
 191 Version 3.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.2 API with the following
 192 features:
 193 </p>
 194 <ul>
 195 <li>BGR, BGRA and packed pixel formats
 196 <li>New texture border clamp mode
 197 <li>glDrawRangeElements()
 198 <li>standard 3-D texturing
 199 <li>advanced MIPMAP control
 200 <li>separate specular color interpolation
 201 </ul>
 202
 203
 204 <H2>Version 2.x features</H2>
 205 <p>
 206 Version 2.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.1 API with the following
 207 features.
 208 </p>
 209 <ul>
 210 <li>Texture mapping:
 211         <ul>
 212         <li>glAreTexturesResident
 213         <li>glBindTexture
 214         <li>glCopyTexImage1D
 215         <li>glCopyTexImage2D
 216         <li>glCopyTexSubImage1D
 217         <li>glCopyTexSubImage2D
 218         <li>glDeleteTextures
 219         <li>glGenTextures
 220         <li>glIsTexture
 221         <li>glPrioritizeTextures
 222         <li>glTexSubImage1D
 223         <li>glTexSubImage2D
 224         </ul>
 225 <li>Vertex Arrays:
 226         <ul>
 227         <li>glArrayElement
 228         <li>glColorPointer
 229         <li>glDrawElements
 230         <li>glEdgeFlagPointer
 231         <li>glIndexPointer
 232         <li>glInterleavedArrays
 233         <li>glNormalPointer
 234         <li>glTexCoordPointer
 235         <li>glVertexPointer
 236         </ul>
 237 <li>Client state management:
 238         <ul>
 239         <li>glDisableClientState
 240         <li>glEnableClientState
 241         <li>glPopClientAttrib
 242         <li>glPushClientAttrib
 243         </ul>
 244 <li>Misc:
 245         <ul>
 246         <li>glGetPointer
 247         <li>glIndexub
 248         <li>glIndexubv
 249         <li>glPolygonOffset
 250         </ul>
 251 </ul>
 252
 253
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