Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
Re: Linux and 3D graphics hardware support
IDL uses OpenGL software to draw 3D graphs. The problem is that hardware accelerated OpenGL is not a standard feature in Linux systems. That is the reason IDL for Linux comes with Mesa3D which is a software implementation of OpenGL. So, the answer to your question is: there is full 3D support in IDL/Linux, but not the "hardware" one. However NVIDIA and SGI made some drivers for linux to substitute Mesa libs. It worked perfect for me (Quake 3/OpenGL worked almost as fast as windows). But IDL crashed. So don't expect hard acceleration in Linux in an easy way. Maybe someone was lucky than me. Let's wait some more responses. Cheers. J�lio Maranh�o Instituto de Estudos Avan�ados - IEAv / CTA S�o Jos� dos Campos - SP - Brasil "Carsten Dominik" <dominik@astro.uva.nl> wrote in message news:qzug0ga2eeq.fsf@antares.astro.uva.nl... > > Hi, > > my Boss is buing me a new Linux PC to run IDL on. One of the things I > want to do is 3D graphics, and I know that IDL can support some hardware > acceleration of 3D graphics. > > Where can I find information on what video cards can be be used for > that? >
Carsten Dominik wrote: > my Boss is buing me a new Linux PC to run IDL on. One of the things I > want to do is 3D graphics, and I know that IDL can support some hardware > acceleration of 3D graphics. > > Where can I find information on what video cards can be be used for > that? http://www.xig.com/Pages/3DLinuxProductMaster.html Cheers, Liam. http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/~gumley
Carsten Dominik <dominik@astro.uva.nl> writes: > Hi, > > my Boss is buing me a new Linux PC to run IDL on. One of the things I > want to do is 3D graphics, and I know that IDL can support some hardware > acceleration of 3D graphics. > > Where can I find information on what video cards can be be used for > that? > > Thanks. > > - Carsten Carsten; Info on the status of 3D and Linux is at http://glide.xxedgexx.com/. Hardware acceleration requires certain boards and usually a special X server. See http://glide.xxedgexx.com/genframe.php3?hardware for more info. MetroLink used to talk quite a bit about their X server, which they claim supported hardware accelerated OpenGL on some cards, but they're rewritten their web pages and I can't find it now. Check http://www.metrolink.com and drop them a line. Looks like Liam already posted the URL for Xi graphics. They're one of the other companies supplying this functionality. whd -- William Daffer: 818-354-0161: William.Daffer@jpl.nasa.gov