</head>
<body>
+<div class="header">
+ <h1>The Mesa 3D Graphics Library</h1>
+</div>
+
+<iframe src="contents.html"></iframe>
+<div class="content">
+
<center>
<h1>Mesa Frequently Asked Questions</h1>
Last updated: 21 August 2006
-<a name="part1">
-</a><h1><a name="part1">1. High-level Questions and Answers</a></h1>
+<h1 id="part1">1. High-level Questions and Answers</h1>
-<h2><a name="part1">1.1 What is Mesa?</a></h2>
+<h2>1.1 What is Mesa?</h2>
<p>
-<a name="part1">Mesa is an open-source implementation of the OpenGL specification.
+Mesa is an open-source implementation of the OpenGL specification.
OpenGL is a programming library for writing interactive 3D applications.
-See the </a><a href="http://www.opengl.org/">OpenGL website</a> for more
+See the <a href="http://www.opengl.org/">OpenGL website</a> for more
information.
</p>
<p>
<h2>1.6 Are there other open-source implementations of OpenGL?</h2>
<p>
-Yes, SGI's <a href="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/index.html"
-target="_parent">
+Yes, SGI's <a href="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/index.html">
OpenGL Sample Implemenation (SI)</a> is available.
The SI was written during the time that OpenGL was originally designed.
Unfortunately, development of the SI has stagnated.
</p>
<p>
-<a href="http://ogl-es.sourceforge.net" target="_parent">Vincent</a> is
+<a href="http://ogl-es.sourceforge.net">Vincent</a> is
an open-source implementation of OpenGL ES for mobile devices.
<p>
-<a href="http://www.dsbox.com/minigl.html" target="_parent">miniGL</a>
+<a href="http://www.dsbox.com/minigl.html">miniGL</a>
is a subset of OpenGL for PalmOS devices.
<p>
-<a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/TinyGL/"
-target="_parent">TinyGL</a> is a subset of OpenGL.
+<a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/TinyGL/">TinyGL</a>
+is a subset of OpenGL.
</p>
<p>
-<a href="http://softgl.studierstube.org/" target="_parent">SoftGL</a>
+<a href="http://softgl.studierstube.org/">SoftGL</a>
is an OpenGL subset for mobile devices.
</p>
<p>
-<a href="http://chromium.sourceforge.net/" target="_parent">Chromium</a>
+<a href="http://chromium.sourceforge.net/">Chromium</a>
isn't a conventional OpenGL implementation (it's layered upon OpenGL),
but it does export the OpenGL API. It allows tiled rendering, sort-last
rendering, etc.
</p>
<p>
-<a href="http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/361/36173.html"
-target="_parent">ClosedGL</a> is an OpenGL subset library for TI
-graphing calculators.
+<a href="http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/361/36173.html">ClosedGL</a>
+is an OpenGL subset library for TI graphing calculators.
</p>
<p>
<br>
-<a name="part2">
-</a><h1><a name="part2">2. Compilation and Installation Problems</a></h1>
+<h1 id="part2">2. Compilation and Installation Problems</h1>
-<h2><a name="part2">2.1 What's the easiest way to install Mesa?</a></h2>
+<h2>2.1 What's the easiest way to install Mesa?</h2>
<p>
-<a name="part2">If you're using a Linux-based system, your distro CD most likely already
+If you're using a Linux-based system, your distro CD most likely already
has Mesa packages (like RPM or DEB) which you can easily install.
-</a></p>
+</p>
-<h2><a name="part2">2.2 I get undefined symbols such as bgnpolygon, v3f, etc...</a></h2>
+<h2>2.2 I get undefined symbols such as bgnpolygon, v3f, etc...</h2>
<p>
-<a name="part2">You're application is written in IRIS GL, not OpenGL.
+You're application is written in IRIS GL, not OpenGL.
IRIS GL was the predecessor to OpenGL and is a different thing (almost)
entirely.
Mesa's not the solution.
-</a></p>
+</p>
-<h2><a name="part2">2.3 Where is the GLUT library?</a></h2>
+<h2>2.3 Where is the GLUT library?</h2>
<p>
-<a name="part2">GLUT (OpenGL Utility Toolkit) is no longer in the separate MesaGLUT-x.y.z.tar.gz file.
+GLUT (OpenGL Utility Toolkit) is no longer in the separate MesaGLUT-x.y.z.tar.gz file.
If you don't already have GLUT installed, you should grab
<a href="http://freeglut.sourceforge.net/">freeglut</a>.
-</a></p>
+</p>
-<h2><a name="part2">2.4 Where is the GLw library?</a></h2>
+<h2>2.4 Where is the GLw library?</h2>
<p>
-
<a name="part2">GLw (OpenGL widget library) is now available from a separate <a href="http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/glw/">git repository</a>. Unless you're using very old Xt/Motif applications with OpenGL, you shouldn't need it.
-</a></p>
+GLw (OpenGL widget library) is now available from a separate <a href="http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/glw/">git repository</a>. Unless you're using very old Xt/Motif applications with OpenGL, you shouldn't need it.
+</p>
-<h2><a name="part2">2.5 What's the proper place for the libraries and headers?</a></h2>
+<h2>2.5 What's the proper place for the libraries and headers?</h2>
<p>
-<a name="part2">On Linux-based systems you'll want to follow the
-</a><a href="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/ABI/index.html"
-target="_parent">Linux ABI</a> standard.
+On Linux-based systems you'll want to follow the
+<a href="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/ABI/index.html">Linux ABI</a> standard.
Basically you'll want the following:
</p>
<ul>
</li><li>/usr/lib/libGL.so.1 - a symlink to libGL.so.1.xyz
</li><li>/usr/lib/libGL.so.xyz - the actual OpenGL/Mesa library. xyz denotes the
Mesa version number.
-</li><li>/usr/lib/libGLU.so - a symlink to libGLU.so.1
-</li><li>/usr/lib/libGLU.so.1 - a symlink to libGLU.so.1.3.xyz
-</li><li>/usr/lib/libGLU.so.xyz - the OpenGL Utility library. xyz denotes the Mesa
-version number.
</li></ul>
<p>
After installing XFree86/X.org and the DRI drivers, some of these files
<br>
-<a name="part3">
-</a><h1><a name="part3">3. Runtime / Rendering Problems</a></h1>
+<h1 id="part3">3. Runtime / Rendering Problems</h1>
-<h2><a name="part3">3.1 Rendering is slow / why isn't my graphics hardware being used?</a></h2>
+<h2>3.1 Rendering is slow / why isn't my graphics hardware being used?</h2>
<p>
-<a name="part3">Stand-alone Mesa (downloaded as MesaLib-x.y.z.tar.gz) doesn't have any
+Stand-alone Mesa (downloaded as MesaLib-x.y.z.tar.gz) doesn't have any
support for hardware acceleration (with the exception of the 3DFX Voodoo
driver).
-</a></p>
+</p>
<p>
-<a name="part3">What you really want is a DRI or NVIDIA (or another vendor's OpenGL) driver
+What you really want is a DRI or NVIDIA (or another vendor's OpenGL) driver
for your particular hardware.
-</a></p>
+</p>
<p>
-<a name="part3">You can run the <code>glxinfo</code> program to learn about your OpenGL
+You can run the <code>glxinfo</code> program to learn about your OpenGL
library.
Look for the GL_VENDOR and GL_RENDERER values.
That will identify who's OpenGL library you're using and what sort of
hardware it has detected.
-</a></p>
+</p>
<p>
-<a name="part3">If your DRI-based driver isn't working, go to the
-</a><a href="http://dri.sf.net/" target="_parent">DRI website</a> for trouble-shooting information.
+If your DRI-based driver isn't working, go to the
+<a href="http://dri.sf.net/">DRI website</a> for trouble-shooting information.
</p>
<p>
Make sure the ratio of the far to near clipping planes isn't too great.
Look
-<a href="http://www.opengl.org/resources/faq/technical/depthbuffer.htm#0040"
-target="_parent"> here</a> for details.
+<a href="http://www.opengl.org/resources/faq/technical/depthbuffer.htm#0040">here</a>
+for details.
</p>
<p>
Mesa uses a 16-bit depth buffer by default which is smaller and faster
<br>
-<a name="part4">
-</a><h1><a name="part4">4. Developer Questions</a></h1>
+<h1 id="part4">4. Developer Questions</h1>
-<h2>4.1 How can I contribute?</a></h2>
+<h2>4.1 How can I contribute?</h2>
<p>
First, join the <a href="http://www.mesa3d.org/lists.html">Mesa3d-dev
mailing list</a>.
That's where Mesa development is discussed.
</p>
<p>
-The <a href="http://www.opengl.org/documentation" target="_parent">
+The <a href="http://www.opengl.org/documentation">
OpenGL Specification</a> is the bible for OpenGL implemention work.
You should read it.
</p>
<h2>4.3 Why isn't GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc implemented in Mesa?</h2>
<p>
-The <a href="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/EXT/texture_compression_s3tc.txt" target="_parent">specification for the extension</a>
+The <a href="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/EXT/texture_compression_s3tc.txt">specification for the extension</a>
indicates that there are intellectual property (IP) and/or patent issues
to be dealt with.
</p>
algorithms).
</p>
<p>
-In the mean time, a 3rd party <a href=
-"http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/dri_experimental/s3tc_index.html"
-target="_parent">plug-in library</a> is available.
+In the mean time, a 3rd party <a href="http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/S3TC">
+plug-in library</a> is available.
</p>
-
+</div>
</body>
</html>
projects / mesa.git / blobdiff