NVIDIA Releases OpenGL 3.3 Linux Driver

Well, that didn't take long. Just earlier this month the Khronos Group unveiled the OpenGL 4.0 specification that brought many long-awaited changed to this open graphics API. On the same day this industry consortium also released the OpenGL 3.3 specification, which aims to bring back as much of the OpenGL 4.0 functionality to graphics cards that only support OGL3. OpenGL 4.0 is designed for graphics cards that are meant for DirectX 11.0, which basically means AMD's Radeon HD 5000 series and NVIDIA's forthcoming GeForce 400 series. OpenGL 3.x on the other-hand is compatible with DirectX 10.0 grade hardware, such as the Radeon HD 4000 series and GeForce 200 series. For those with a newer NVIDIA graphics card, you can now run OpenGL 3.3 applications or games as they have just released a supported driver.

NVIDIA's Aaron Plattner has put out the 195.36.07.03 driver with the primary change being the introduction of OpenGL 3.3 functionality. NVIDIA, however, recommends its Linux / BSD / OpenSolaris users that do not need OpenGL 3.3 support to continue running the 196.36.15 pre-release.

NVIDIA again is prompt to the game with delivering Linux support for new OpenGL specifications. They've been first all along with their OpenGL 3.x support and they even delivered early OpenGL 3.2 support before the specification had even been ratified. Though there aren't games or programs yet that we know of on Linux taking advantage of this brand new OpenGL spec, Unigine surely is working on something.

Download links for the first OpenGL 3.3 supportive NVIDIA Linux driver can be found at NvNews.net.