[Nottingham] Getting Xgl to work

[Martin Garton]

On Wed, 2006-07-05 at 01:55 +0100, Martin wrote:

> > And what about XGL? :)
> OK... What is or uses that?

My understanding is this:

XGL is an X server that runs on top of a subset of the OpenGL API.  It
actually runs in addition to your existing X server, using the existing
servers GLX capabilities to provide the OpenGL functionality needed.

What uses it?  Well, it's an X server so lots of things can use it.
Notably though, compiz (a window and compositing manager) makes good use
of its compositing capabilities.  You may have seen the "wobbily
windows" and "virtual desktops on a cube" effects.

An alternative way to achieve the same features is to use AIGLX. AIGLX
has been merged into official xorg and will probably be making its way
to a distro near you soon.

Hardware support is the interesting bit.  It seems (and I may be out of
date here) that XGL only runs on the binary only ati and nvidia drivers
or the open source i810 driver.  AIGLX seems to run the open source ATI
and i810 drivers but not on nvidia at all (open or closed)

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can give you more info or point out
my mistakes.  Also, i seem to remember the wikipedia entries are pretty
helpful.

-- 
Martin.