Re: [PyOpenGL-Users] Choice of OpenGL version for new application?

[Mike C. F. <mcf...@vr...>]

On 12-02-07 02:39 PM, Matthew Brett wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am sorry if this question has been asked before, but, are there any
> resources to get an idea of what proportion of PCs / laptops in
> current use have OpenGL 3, or OpenGL 4?  Or more detail on which
> extensions might be available?
>
> I'm just starting a library that I suppose won't be used widely for at
> least the next 6 months and I wanted to know if I should start with
> OpenGL 3 or stick to OpenGL 1 / 2.
>
> Thanks a lot for any advice, sorry if the question is ignorant,
Depends on your target audience; for instance, the steam survey (mostly 
"hardcore" gamers) says that among them ~93% have DirectX 10 capable 
GPUs (supporting e.g. geometry shaders, so ~ OpenGL 3.x level of support 
IIUC).  For casual gamers the percentages will be lower, particularly as 
many of the cards in non-gamer machines will be Intel integrated chips, 
which are IIRC 2.0 with some 2.1 and 3.x extensions, and even that is 
dependent on having up-to-date drivers.  If you're planning to port to 
Android (GLES) then you'll likely need to have both 1.x/2.x (android 
2.1) and 3.x/4.x (anything higher) rendering paths anyway.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/

HTH,
Mike

-- 
________________________________________________
   Mike C. Fletcher
   Designer, VR Plumber, Coder
   http://www.vrplumber.com
   http://blog.vrplumber.com