Brian Paul | 0b27ace | 2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | <HTML> |
| 2 | |
| 3 | <TITLE>Mesa Introduction</TITLE> |
| 4 | |
Brian Paul | 36da045 | 2005-01-20 03:55:10 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 5 | <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mesa.css"></head> |
| 6 | |
| 7 | <BODY> |
Brian Paul | 0b27ace | 2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 8 | |
| 9 | <H1>Introduction</H1> |
| 10 | |
| 11 | <p> |
| 12 | Mesa is a 3-D graphics library with an API which is very similar to |
| 13 | that of <a href="http://www.opengl.org/" target="_parent">OpenGL</a>.* |
| 14 | To the extent that Mesa utilizes the OpenGL command syntax or state |
| 15 | machine, it is being used with authorization from <a |
| 16 | href="http://www.sgi.com/" target="_parent">Silicon Graphics, |
| 17 | Inc.</a>(SGI). However, the author does not possess an OpenGL license |
| 18 | from SGI, and makes no claim that Mesa is in any way a compatible |
| 19 | replacement for OpenGL or associated with SGI. Those who want a |
| 20 | licensed implementation of OpenGL should contact a licensed |
| 21 | vendor. |
| 22 | </p> |
| 23 | |
| 24 | <p> |
| 25 | Please do not refer to the library as <em>MesaGL</em> (for legal |
| 26 | reasons). It's just <em>Mesa</em> or <em>The Mesa 3-D graphics |
| 27 | library</em>. <br> |
| 28 | </p> |
| 29 | |
| 30 | <p> |
| 31 | * OpenGL is a trademark of <a href="http://www.sgi.com/" |
| 32 | target="_parent">Silicon Graphics Incorporated</a>. |
| 33 | </p> |
| 34 | |
| 35 | |
| 36 | <H1>Project History</H1> |
| 37 | |
| 38 | <p> |
| 39 | The Mesa project was founded by me, Brian Paul. Here's a short history |
| 40 | of the project. |
| 41 | </p> |
| 42 | |
| 43 | <p> |
| 44 | August, 1993: I begin working on Mesa in my spare time. The project |
| 45 | has no name at that point. I was simply interested in writing a simple |
| 46 | 3D graphics library that used the then-new OpenGL API. I was partially |
| 47 | inspired by the <em>VOGL</em> library which emulated a subset of IRIS GL. |
| 48 | I had been programming with IRIS GL since 1991. |
| 49 | </p> |
| 50 | |
| 51 | <p> |
| 52 | November 1994: I contact SGI to ask permission to distribute my OpenGL-like |
| 53 | graphics library on the internet. SGI was generally receptive to the |
| 54 | idea and after negotiations with SGI's legal department, I get permission |
| 55 | to release it. |
| 56 | </p> |
| 57 | |
| 58 | <p> |
| 59 | February 1995: Mesa 1.0 is released on the internet. I expected that |
| 60 | a few people would be interested in it, but not thousands. |
| 61 | I was soon receiving patches, new features and thank-you notes on a |
| 62 | daily basis. That encouraged me to continue working on Mesa. The |
| 63 | name Mesa just popped into my head one day. SGI had asked me not to use |
| 64 | the terms <em>"Open"</em> or <em>"GL"</em> in the project name and I didn't |
| 65 | want to make up a new acronym. Later, I heard of the Mesa programming |
| 66 | language and the Mesa spreadsheet for NeXTStep. |
| 67 | </p> |
| 68 | |
| 69 | <p> |
| 70 | In the early days, OpenGL wasn't available on too many systems. |
| 71 | It even took a while for SGI to support it across their product line. |
| 72 | Mesa filled a big hole during that time. |
| 73 | For a lot of people, Mesa was their first introduction to OpenGL. |
| 74 | I think SGI recognized that Mesa actually helped to promote |
| 75 | the OpenGL API, so they didn't feel threatened by the project. |
| 76 | </p> |
| 77 | |
| 78 | |
| 79 | <p> |
| 80 | 1995-1996: I continue working on Mesa both during my spare time and during |
| 81 | my work hours at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University |
| 82 | of Wisconsin in Madison. My supervisor, Bill Hibbard, lets me do this because |
| 83 | Mesa is now being using for the <a href="http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/%7Ebillh/vis.html" target="_parent">Vis5D</a> project. |
| 84 | </p><p> |
Brian Paul | 30aea49 | 2005-07-01 01:04:31 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 85 | October 1996: Mesa 2.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.1 specification. |
Brian Paul | 0b27ace | 2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 86 | </p> |
| 87 | |
| 88 | <p> |
| 89 | March 1997: Mesa 2.2 is released. It supports the new 3dfx Voodoo graphics |
| 90 | card via the Glide library. It's the first really popular hardware OpenGL |
| 91 | implementation for Linux. |
| 92 | </p> |
| 93 | |
| 94 | <p> |
| 95 | September 1998: Mesa 3.0 is released. It's the first publicly-available |
| 96 | implementation of the OpenGL 1.2 API. |
| 97 | </p> |
| 98 | |
| 99 | <p> |
| 100 | March 1999: I attend my first OpenGL ARB meeting. I contribute to the |
| 101 | development of several official OpenGL extensions over the years. |
| 102 | </p> |
| 103 | |
| 104 | <p> |
| 105 | September 1999: I'm hired by Precision Insight, Inc. Mesa is a key |
| 106 | component of 3D hardware acceleration in the new DRI project for XFree86. |
| 107 | Drivers for 3dfx, 3dLabs, Intel, Matrox and ATI hardware soon follow. |
| 108 | </p> |
| 109 | |
| 110 | <p> |
| 111 | October 2001: Mesa 4.0 is released. |
| 112 | It implements the OpenGL 1.3 specification. |
| 113 | </p> |
| 114 | |
| 115 | |
| 116 | <p> |
| 117 | November 2001: I cofound <a href="http://www.tungstengraphics.com" target="_parent"> |
| 118 | Tungsten Graphics, Inc.</a> with Keith Whitwell, Jens Owen, David Dawes and |
| 119 | Frank LaMonica. |
| 120 | I continue to develop Mesa as part of my resposibilities with Tungsten |
| 121 | Graphics and as a spare-time project. |
| 122 | </p> |
| 123 | |
| 124 | <p> |
| 125 | November 2002: Mesa 5.0 is released. |
| 126 | It implements the OpenGL 1.4 specification. |
| 127 | </p> |
| 128 | |
| 129 | <p> |
Brian Paul | d7af11a | 2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 130 | January 2003: Mesa 6.0 is released. It implements the OpenGL 1.5 |
| 131 | specification as well as the GL_ARB_vertex_program and |
| 132 | GL_ARB_fragment_program extensions. |
| 133 | </p> |
| 134 | |
| 135 | |
| 136 | <p> |
Brian Paul | 30aea49 | 2005-07-01 01:04:31 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 137 | Ongoing: Mesa is used as the core of many hardware OpenGL drivers for |
| 138 | the XFree86 X.org X servers within the |
Adam Jackson | d78834b | 2005-11-03 20:49:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 139 | <A href="http://dri.freedesktop.org/" target="_parent">DRI project</A>. |
Brian Paul | 0b27ace | 2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 140 | I continue to enhance Mesa with new extensions and features. |
| 141 | </p> |
| 142 | |
| 143 | |
| 144 | |
| 145 | <H1>Major Versions</H1> |
| 146 | |
| 147 | <p> |
| 148 | This is a summary of the major versions of Mesa. Note that Mesa's major |
Brian Paul | b7c727e | 2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 149 | version number tracks OpenGL's minor version number (+1). |
| 150 | Work is underway to implement the OpenGL 2.0 specification. |
Brian Paul | 0b27ace | 2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 151 | </p> |
| 152 | |
| 153 | |
Brian Paul | d7af11a | 2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 154 | <H2>Version 6.x features</H2> |
| 155 | <p> |
| 156 | Version 6.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.5 API with the following |
| 157 | extensions incorporated as standard features: |
| 158 | </p> |
| 159 | <ul> |
| 160 | <li>GL_ARB_occlusion_query |
| 161 | <li>GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object |
Brian Paul | d7af11a | 2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 162 | <li>GL_EXT_shadow_funcs |
| 163 | </ul> |
| 164 | <p> |
| 165 | Also note that several OpenGL tokens were renamed in OpenGL 1.5 |
Brian Paul | b7c727e | 2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 166 | for the sake of consistency. |
| 167 | The old tokens are still available. |
Brian Paul | d7af11a | 2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 168 | </p> |
| 169 | <pre> |
Brian Paul | b7c727e | 2005-08-19 16:57:50 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 170 | New Token Old Token |
Brian Paul | d7af11a | 2004-01-07 14:51:30 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 171 | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| 172 | GL_FOG_COORD_SRC GL_FOG_COORDINATE_SOURCE |
| 173 | GL_FOG_COORD GL_FOG_COORDINATE |
| 174 | GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORD GL_CURRENT_FOG_COORDINATE |
| 175 | GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_TYPE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_TYPE |
| 176 | GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_STRIDE GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_STRIDE |
| 177 | GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY_POINTER GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY_POINTER |
| 178 | GL_FOG_COORD_ARRAY GL_FOG_COORDINATE_ARRAY |
| 179 | GL_SRC0_RGB GL_SOURCE0_RGB |
| 180 | GL_SRC1_RGB GL_SOURCE1_RGB |
| 181 | GL_SRC2_RGB GL_SOURCE2_RGB |
| 182 | GL_SRC0_ALPHA GL_SOURCE0_ALPHA |
| 183 | GL_SRC1_ALPHA GL_SOURCE1_ALPHA |
| 184 | GL_SRC2_ALPHA GL_SOURCE2_ALPHA |
| 185 | </pre> |
| 186 | <p> |
| 187 | See the |
| 188 | <a href="http://www.opengl.org/documentation/spec.html" target="_parent"> |
| 189 | OpenGL specification</a> for more details. |
| 190 | </p> |
| 191 | |
| 192 | |
| 193 | |
Brian Paul | 0b27ace | 2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 194 | <H2>Version 5.x features</H2> |
| 195 | <p> |
| 196 | Version 5.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.4 API with the following |
| 197 | extensions incorporated as standard features: |
| 198 | </p> |
| 199 | <ul> |
| 200 | <li>GL_ARB_depth_texture |
| 201 | <li>GL_ARB_shadow |
| 202 | <li>GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar |
| 203 | <li>GL_ARB_texture_mirror_repeat |
| 204 | <li>GL_ARB_window_pos |
| 205 | <li>GL_EXT_blend_color |
| 206 | <li>GL_EXT_blend_func_separate |
| 207 | <li>GL_EXT_blend_logic_op |
| 208 | <li>GL_EXT_blend_minmax |
| 209 | <li>GL_EXT_blend_subtract |
| 210 | <li>GL_EXT_fog_coord |
| 211 | <li>GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays |
| 212 | <li>GL_EXT_point_parameters |
| 213 | <li>GL_EXT_secondary_color |
| 214 | <li>GL_EXT_stencil_wrap |
Brian Paul | 3a604da | 2003-08-28 03:10:00 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 215 | <li>GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias (plus, a per-texture LOD bias parameter) |
Brian Paul | 0b27ace | 2003-03-08 17:38:57 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 216 | <li>GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap |
| 217 | </ul> |
| 218 | |
| 219 | |
| 220 | <H2>Version 4.x features</H2> |
| 221 | |
| 222 | <p> |
| 223 | Version 4.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.3 API with the following |
| 224 | extensions incorporated as standard features: |
| 225 | </p> |
| 226 | |
| 227 | <ul> |
| 228 | <li>GL_ARB_multisample |
| 229 | <li>GL_ARB_multitexture |
| 230 | <li>GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp |
| 231 | <li>GL_ARB_texture_compression |
| 232 | <li>GL_ARB_texture_cube_map |
| 233 | <li>GL_ARB_texture_env_add |
| 234 | <li>GL_ARB_texture_env_combine |
| 235 | <li>GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 |
| 236 | <li>GL_ARB_transpose_matrix |
| 237 | </ul> |
| 238 | |
| 239 | <H2>Version 3.x features</H2> |
| 240 | |
| 241 | <p> |
| 242 | Version 3.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.2 API with the following |
| 243 | features: |
| 244 | </p> |
| 245 | <ul> |
| 246 | <li>BGR, BGRA and packed pixel formats |
| 247 | <li>New texture border clamp mode |
| 248 | <li>glDrawRangeElements() |
| 249 | <li>standard 3-D texturing |
| 250 | <li>advanced MIPMAP control |
| 251 | <li>separate specular color interpolation |
| 252 | </ul> |
| 253 | |
| 254 | |
| 255 | <H2>Version 2.x features</H2> |
| 256 | <p> |
| 257 | Version 2.x of Mesa implements the OpenGL 1.1 API with the following |
| 258 | features. |
| 259 | </p> |
| 260 | <ul> |
| 261 | <li>Texture mapping: |
| 262 | <ul> |
| 263 | <li>glAreTexturesResident |
| 264 | <li>glBindTexture |
| 265 | <li>glCopyTexImage1D |
| 266 | <li>glCopyTexImage2D |
| 267 | <li>glCopyTexSubImage1D |
| 268 | <li>glCopyTexSubImage2D |
| 269 | <li>glDeleteTextures |
| 270 | <li>glGenTextures |
| 271 | <li>glIsTexture |
| 272 | <li>glPrioritizeTextures |
| 273 | <li>glTexSubImage1D |
| 274 | <li>glTexSubImage2D |
| 275 | </ul> |
| 276 | <li>Vertex Arrays: |
| 277 | <ul> |
| 278 | <li>glArrayElement |
| 279 | <li>glColorPointer |
| 280 | <li>glDrawElements |
| 281 | <li>glEdgeFlagPointer |
| 282 | <li>glIndexPointer |
| 283 | <li>glInterleavedArrays |
| 284 | <li>glNormalPointer |
| 285 | <li>glTexCoordPointer |
| 286 | <li>glVertexPointer |
| 287 | </ul> |
| 288 | <li>Client state management: |
| 289 | <ul> |
| 290 | <li>glDisableClientState |
| 291 | <li>glEnableClientState |
| 292 | <li>glPopClientAttrib |
| 293 | <li>glPushClientAttrib |
| 294 | </ul> |
| 295 | <li>Misc: |
| 296 | <ul> |
| 297 | <li>glGetPointer |
| 298 | <li>glIndexub |
| 299 | <li>glIndexubv |
| 300 | <li>glPolygonOffset |
| 301 | </ul> |
| 302 | </ul> |
| 303 | |
| 304 | |
| 305 | </body> |
| 306 | </html> |