Mir Shells/Compositors Now Can Handle Desktop OpenGL

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Mir Shells/Compositors Now Can Handle Desktop OpenGL

Up to now Mir servers (basically compositors / shells) have only supported OpenGL ES but now with the latest Mir work they are able to support full OpenGL...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Mir-Server-Desktop-OpenGL

[TheOne]

And with this and other things they have done it seems that Mir will be a better choice than Wayland even if people doesn't wants to admit it.

[ssokolow]

And with this and other things they have done it seems that Mir will be a better choice than Wayland even if people doesn't wants to admit it.

The Wayland architecture doesn't depend on GLES. The default API is EGL (successor to the GLX API that X11 uses) and I know that at least Weston also has a backend based on software rendering.

[Oshimoto]

Couldn't this be ported to wayland?

[dh04000]

Couldn't this be ported to wayland?

Very likely yes. Can you code? If so, go take a look at the code and see how it works and report back.


I wonder if using opengl as its backend will fix Mir on my old netbook and other older generation intel gpu's. As I assume they don't have opengles...... which makes sense now why it didn't work. Kinda ashamed that I am just now realizing this, lol.

[Krejzi]

Someone from FreeBSD camp submitted the OpenGL backend for weston, but it never got any attention.

[justmy2cents]

Mir Shells/Compositors...

let me count them... ahhh, there is only 1

[dh04000]

let me count them... ahhh, there is only 1

I noticed that typo too.

[jrch2k8]

Fixes for those confused about Wayland / OpenGL(ES) / Mir.

1.) Both Wayland and Mir use EGL(aka Non X11 dependant GLX replacement)
2.) Wayland is a protocol not a server, Mir is a Server like X11(with less fat on it) not a protocol
3.) Wayland since is a protocol, it can render/composite in OpenGL, Vulkan, OpenGLES, DX9-12(if implemented by the drivers ofc), GPU ASM(yes is overkill but you can), Pixman, Custom CPU drawing code, Specific VPU/accelerator code(some ARM have dedicated hardware for 2D drawing for example), Hardware Overlays, etc. as long you deliver your draw in a compatible format for the requested surface. Note that since is just a surface request protocol you can even interop several languages and tools at once(draw in OpenGL and postprocess in Vulkan and deliver on wayland)
4.) Kwin wayland support both already(maybe vulkan later if it makes sense) but i'm not 100% if Mutter uses full OpenGL to composite

In the case of Mir since its a server, it may require explicit coded support to work with certain API's tho, specially since the server kinda composites and then callback while Unity sync the presentation or something like that. i maybe be wrong here, the last time i tried to read Mir code i got a bad headache and let go lots of curses, i vaguely remember lots of Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot flying around too.

Whatever the point is, this is very old news in the Wayland world. In Wayland the hot stuff is Vulkan compositors this days

[ElectricPrism]

And with this and other things they have done it seems that Mir will be a better choice than Wayland even if people doesn't wants to admit it.

I don't mind such strong statements, but I expect some sort of supporting data in bullet points to back up said statements.

Otherwise how am I supposed to know someone isn't just saying: X is better than Y

eg: Orange Juice is better than Pear Juice

Scenario 1: Individual 1 is allergic to oranges, therefore Pear Juice is better in the namespace of their life

Scenario 2: Individual 2 is deficient in Vitamin C therefore Orange Juice is superior for them

Scenario 3: Polar Bear can drink neither Orange Juice or Pear Juice and hates both.