Arch Linux

2k

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2006-02-17

Posts: 76

OpenGl programming query

Hi there

I'm not sure where to post this, but as it's not directly related to programming I felt this is the best area to post in, apologies if I have posted it in the wrong area of the site.

I'm recovering from surgery so to alleviate the utter boredom I have decided to have a go at a bit of OpenGL programming. I have been working from  openglbook.com

Anyway I keyed in the program in chapter 1 and ran it expecting a blank window and the info in the terminal to read OpenGL version 4.0.0 or something similar. However the output that I'm getting is OpenGL Version: 2.1.

so after all that my question is why is my computer only running version 2.1 of opengl when it should be around the 4.0? As i'm not a gamer I have never had to worry about this before. My system is fully up to date.

thanks for any help / advice that can be offered

Mike

KingX

Member

From: CA

Registered: 2010-03-24

Posts: 324

Re: OpenGl programming query

It depends on your gfx card and what drivers you have installed for it. It's similar to DX10 and DX11, where not every graphics card supports it so only the newer cards boast support for OpenGL 4.0. What graphics card are you running? And what drivers you have installed for it? If it's a newish card that supports 4.0 do you have the MESA package installed?

Edit: Also if you are just getting your feet wet with opengl, don't worry about the version. That will only make a difference once you start using shaders and more complex algorithms like shadows etc. For simpler stuff in the beginning the opengl version is irrelevant. You may also want to look into freeglut to ease your development.

Last edited by KingX (2012-03-06 02:47:34)

Diaz

Member

From: Portugal

Registered: 2008-04-16

Posts: 366

Re: OpenGl programming query

The open-source drivers only recently got support for the version 3.0 and that is the reason you only see the 2.1 version on your pc. If you want to use the latest version you have to use the proprietary drivers from nvidia or ati.

2k

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2006-02-17

Posts: 76

Re: OpenGl programming query

Hi there,

thanks for the replies, I have come to the conclusion that it probably doesn't matter that it's an old version of OpenGL as I am very much a beginner when it comes to programming with it and there aren't very many books etc... that cover the newer versions of it.

I would like however to have the latest version that I can, even though my graphics card is getting on a bit now. I have a ATI Radeon X1600 card in the machine and I'm using the ATI proprietary drivers. Does this mean that 2.1 is the latest version of OpenGL that can be supported by the card? or do I have to install the proprietary drivers separately to just doing pacman -Syu?

Sorry for these probably idiotic questions, even though I have been using Arch for many years now i'm still a newbie when it comes to these things.

KingX

Member

From: CA

Registered: 2010-03-24

Posts: 324

Re: OpenGl programming query

2.1 seems like the best your card can probably support. Again, this is really a non-issue focus on learning the api then you will know exactly what you can run on your system and what you can't. Also gives you an idea what you are looking for in your next graphics card.