Re: [Mesa3d-users] Alternate Rendering Contexts

[Brian P. <br...@va...>]

Craig wrote:
> 
> I've seen how to use a GLUT window as a rendering context, and even a
> plain X Window (without GLUT). I have also used OSMesa. Are there
> other ways for Mesa to render? I am particularly interested in
> a) the linux-framebuffer
> b) svgalib

There's a Mesa/SVGA driver but no linux framebuffer driver.


> How would preformance compare to X?

The SVGA driver probably isn't quite as fast as the X driver simply
because it has little to no optimization (no specialized triangle
functions, for example).


> Are there any accelerated drivers
> for these?

No.


>I am pretty sure OSMesa uses no hardware acceleration
> since it is rendered in memory. Is that correct?

Right.


> Maybe what I could really use is a general overview of what an
> OpenGL context is and what Mesa offers for rendering contexts.

I don't have time to give a detailed answer.  A rendering context
contains all the current rendering state.  It's up to a window
system interface (such as GLX, WGL or OSMesa) to define context
creation/binding/destruction functions.

You're probably best off using the GLX interface (or an interface
built on top of GLX like GLUT or SDL) since that'll give you the
most options for hardware acceleration.

-Brian