Annotated edit history of
OpenGL version 5, including all changes.
View license author blame.
| Rev |
Author |
# |
Line |
| 3 |
AristotlePagaltzis |
1 |
[OpenGL] stands for __Open__ __G__raphics __L__anguage. |
| |
|
2 |
|
| |
|
3 |
It is a rather low-level interface for programmers to draw polygons into the computer graphics hardware. However, the abstraction layer it provides means it is very portable. [OpenGL] had little mindshare of developers a few years ago when the other graphics [API]s included [Microsoft]'s Direct3D (part of DirectX) and 3dfx's Glide when one thing changed everything. That one thing was [Quake], when JohnCarmack's id software chose [OpenGL]. [Quake], combined with a Voodoo2 graphics card and the [OpenGL] drivers that came with it, |
| 1 |
PerryLorier |
4 |
was irrestible. |
| |
|
5 |
|
| 5 |
AristotlePagaltzis |
6 |
As far as [Linux] is concerned, [XFree86] has supported [OpenGL] pretty well since the 3.3.x series, and the newer 4.x series has great support. Mesa is a [Free] implementation of [OpenGL] in software. Some card manufacturers have release specifications that allow developers to write drivers to take advantage of hardware acceleration. Other manufacturers are not so cooperative, notably nVidia, and offer BinaryDriver~s. See [Nvidia OpenGL Configuration mini-HOWTO | http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Nvidia-OpenGL-Configuration/] or our NvidiaDriverHowto for specific details and some more background to how [OpenGL] works with [XFree86]. |
| 2 |
GianPerrone |
7 |
|
| 3 |
AristotlePagaltzis |
8 |
For anyone interested in programming using [OpenGL], [SDL] and [GLUT] are highly recommended. They save you a lot of time and energy learning the intracacies of your particular platform and make your program portable. |
