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karljs

Member

Registered: 2009-07-22

Posts: 10

Modern Resources on X, Graphics Driver Stack, OpenGL?

Hi all,
I'm in the process of getting involved in OpenGL graphics programming but feel like I'm missing some foundation knowledge of the X Window System and the Linux graphics driver stack in general.  I can pop up a window using freeglut or SDL but am interested in understanding what's going on at a lower level.

I've browsed through the X.org documentation which is difficult to navigate and seems suited for those just trying to look up a bit of information about a particular component.  I've also browsed the web for more thorough resources and have come across some free but OLD books put out by O'Reilly and a few brief overview style blog posts which haven't been very useful.

Does anyone know of anything more up-to-date?  It needn't be free (gratis) but should be thorough -- ideally covering both X.org and perhaps even touching on Mesa and driver development in general.  Having things spread across several different volumes would be fine, too.

Thanks.

karljs

Member

Registered: 2009-07-22

Posts: 10

Re: Modern Resources on X, Graphics Driver Stack, OpenGL?

Well, I did come across a lone book published in the past few years titled "X Power Tools" which seems like it might be useful.  I'm hesitant to buy it, though, for fear that it might be more of an Xlib tutorial than a resource on understanding the system.

There is so much astounding work being done through X.org, Nouveau, Mesa, etc. but it feels almost impenetrable as an interested but inexperienced (potential) contributor.  How do I learn this stuff?

karljs

Member

Registered: 2009-07-22

Posts: 10

Re: Modern Resources on X, Graphics Driver Stack, OpenGL?

Even though I'm just talking to myself here I thought I would post this link for any other folks interested in system-level graphics stuff:

http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/IntroductoryCourse

It seems like a nice collection of articles which, when taken together, start to explain some of the material I've been looking for.

shining

Pacman Developer

Registered: 2006-05-10

Posts: 2,043

Re: Modern Resources on X, Graphics Driver Stack, OpenGL?

Even though I'm just talking to myself here I thought I would post this link for any other folks interested in system-level graphics stuff:

http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/IntroductoryCourse

It seems like a nice collection of articles which, when taken together, start to explain some of the material I've been looking for.

Heh, this is the link I was going to give you after reading your first post.
I started reading through those docs 6 months ago, but didn't get very far, it's quite tough and I had the impression I was always missing some background.

I think it's a good idea to have a good knowledge of OpenGL graphics, I am still lacking there, but there are good books to read.
And maybe also reading about Linux Device Drivers. I should read that some day : http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/

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