On 03/01/2011 04:18 AM, Blaž Tomažič wrote:
On Mon, 2011-02-28 at 16:39 -0800, Brian Paul wrote:
On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 4:13 PM, Blaž Tomažič<blaz.toma...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Mesa developers,
I am really interested in Gallium3D and I'm thinking about a project for
my diploma (I think this is the same as bachelor's degree) on a computer
university. I'm thinking about writing a Glide state tracker for
Gallium3D. I know that Glide hasn't been used for a decade, but I think
it would be relatively "easy" to implement an old 3D API and a great way
to learn a part of Gallium3D on the way.
Some old games (only Glide: Need for Speed 2; Glide and OpenGL: Unreal,
Quake 2) used Glide API for rendering and Gallium3D could therefore
accelerate them on newer hardware and more importantly, render them with
nicer graphics instead of software rendering as is with some glide only
games. I don't know if there were any Linux games, but Gallium3D works
on Windows too if I'm not mistaken.
So I have a few question for you:
- How hard and how much work would be involved in implementing such an
API? (Any help on implementing it would be welcomed and appreciated of
course)
- Are Glide to OpenGL wrappers a better solution because of changing
nature of Gallium3D interface? (Personally I think they are, but I would
like to work directly on Gallium)
- Do you think this project would fit well in Gallium3D or do you have
any other/better proposals for a project including Gallium3D?
I don't mean to discourage you, but I this probably wouldn't be a very
good project.
The Glide API and 3dfx hardware is lacking in a number of areas,
particularly shaders. Gallium was intended for newer hardware so it
wouldn't be a good fit for this older technology.
I'm sure there are other projects you could do related to
OpenGL/gallium if that's where your interest lies. Other people on
this list might have some ideas. I could probably come up with a few
otherwise. What do you think?
-Brian
I know that Glide is an old technology and probably I should test this
games if they even run on newer OSs. But still, Gallium supports OpenGL
1.x functionality and Glide is a subset of it. Fixed-pipe functionality
is easily implemented with shaders so I think that it could be
implemented.
The issue isn't converting fixed-function GL rendering (e.g. 1.x
functionality) into shaders, it's converting Gallium shaders into
Glide/3dfx fixed-function.
I agree that some other project using current technology would be much
better. Even if Glide would be implemented for Gallium it would be of
almost no use and there would be almost no purpose maintaining it.
Nevertheless, I thought it would be a great way to learn Gallium and in
the process contribute something small to the community. And then, when
I would know more about Gallium, contribute something more useful maybe.
Then Glide is not a good idea but I don't have any other. I'm open for
any suggestions you and other list members might have then.
Keith's debugger/diff driver is a great idea.
-Brian
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