Intel Aims For Open-Source OpenGL 3.0 Driver By Year's End

[cl333r]

The floating point texture/framebuffer patent is the issue, though. You can't have GL 3.0 without licensing, invalidating, or circumventing that patent. Unless Intel thinks that patent is no longer a problem, Mesa cannot and will not support OpenGL 3.0+ for another 10 years (or however long it will be until the patent expires; I forget the exact date).

And don't forget that the corporate lobby might extend the life of software patents from 20 years to say 40. It's not uncommon. So just waiting for it to expire might be a BIG mistake. Better try to invalidate it or plant a big chunk of dynamite into the building of the company who owns the patent and BOOM!! No patent to fear any longer, no company to sue you over the patent. Problem solved. Next one please.

[smitty3268]

The floating point texture/framebuffer patent is the issue, though. You can't have GL 3.0 without licensing, invalidating, or circumventing that patent. Unless Intel thinks that patent is no longer a problem, Mesa cannot and will not support OpenGL 3.0+ for another 10 years (or however long it will be until the patent expires; I forget the exact date).

Well, Mesa itself would support OpenGL 3. It's just the version that your distro ships might not.

I expect that once Mesa 8.0 arrives the unofficial 3rd party repos might create Mesa packages with the patented float code more often. Right now, they don't seem to place a high priority on it but the difference between an OpenGL 2 and 3 driver might be enough to make it more noticeable.

[Kayden]

Will this cover the G45 (4500MHD) chips?

Hopefully! So far, I've been enabling features on all Gen4+ chips, including G45. I believe it should be possible.

I still don't have OpenGL2 I think...

You should have OpenGL 2.1 and GLSL 1.20 support, plus a bunch of extra extensions. I'm pretty sure Gen4 has supported GL 2 since the initial 2006 release...a really long time in any case.

btw: what's the code name of the G45? It's not Sandy Bridge is it?

Eaglelake for desktops, Cantiga if you have a GM45 (mobile). We usually just call them G45/GM45 though.

Here's a handy codename translator:
Gen 4 Desktop - Broadwater (BRW) - G965 - GMA X3000
Gen 4 Mobile - Crestline (CL) - GM965 - GMA X3100
Gen 4.5 Desktop - Eaglelake (ELK) - G45 - GMA X4500HD
Gen 4.5 Mobile - Cantiga (CTG) - GM45 - GMA 4500MHD
Gen 5 - Ironlake (ILK) - HD Graphics (desktop sometimes "Clarkdale", mobile "Arrandale")
Gen 6 - Sandybridge (SNB) - HD Graphics 2000 (codename GT1) and HD Graphics 3000 (codename GT2).

[pingufunkybeat]

Yoohoo!!! w00t w00t!

That's very good news. I hope that they continue working on GLSL after that, since that's the major problem with OpenGL 3.0 - 3.3.

[Kayden]

That's very good news. I hope that they continue working on GLSL after that, since that's the major problem with OpenGL 3.0 - 3.3.

Yep. We're definitely planning on it.

[Azpegath]

Yep. We're definitely planning on it.

I love you. I just wanted to say that. I love you.

[AlbertP]

G45 aka Eaglelake/Cantiga supports up to OpenGL 2.1 in hardware. You won't get OpenGL 3.0 on this.

Sandy Bridge was the first Intel chipset to support OpenGL 3.1 in hardware. OpenGL 3.2 at Intel will come in 2013 with the release of the Haswell CPU. Yet-to-be-released Ivy Bridge still supports OpenGL 3.1 only.

[Drago]

G45 aka Eaglelake/Cantiga supports up to OpenGL 2.1 in hardware. You won't get OpenGL 3.0 on this.

Sandy Bridge was the first Intel chipset to support OpenGL 3.1 in hardware. OpenGL 3.2 at Intel will come in 2013 with the release of the Haswell CPU. Yet-to-be-released Ivy Bridge still supports OpenGL 3.1 only.

Why do they claim DX11 then?

[marek]

DX11 also supports all the DX10 hw.

[darkbasic]

Yet-to-be-released Ivy Bridge still supports OpenGL 3.1 only.

OMG really? I thinked it was OpenGL 3.3 at least