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diff --git a/docs/README.BEOS b/docs/README.BEOS new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..5847730af07 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/README.BEOS @@ -0,0 +1,137 @@ + + Mesa / BeOS Information + + + +* Introduction + +Brian Paul added in Mesa 3.1 a driver for BeOS R4.5 operating system. +This driver implements a clone of the BGLView class. This class, +derived from BView, allows OpenGL rendering into any BeOS window. His +driver was updated in Mesa 4.1 and again in version 6.1 by Philippe +Houdoin, who's maintaining this driver since. + +Any application which uses the BGLView should be able to use Mesa +instead of Be's OpenGL without changing any code. + +Since Be's OpenGL implementation (as of R5) is basically just the +SGI sample implementation, it's pretty slow. You'll see that Mesa +is considerably faster. + + +* Source Code + +The source code for the driver is in src/mesa/drivers/beos/ directory. +It's not 100% finished at this time but many GLUT-based demos are +working. No optimizations have been made at this time. + + +* Compiling + +Since Mesa 6.x, it can be build under BeOS with both the R5 builtin gcc version +or more recent gcc versions available for BeOS, like this gcc version 2.95.3 for BeOS +you can find at http://www.bebits.com/app/2157. +Anyway, keep in mind that to take full advantage of Mesa x86 optimizations, you better +want to use gcc 2.95.3 or sooner versions... + +To build Mesa-powered BeOS libGL.so version, open an Terminal window, +move to Mesa root folder and type this command: + +$ make beos + +Note that the "beos" argument is only needed the first time to setup build config. +Next times, typing "make" will be enough. + +When it finishes the Mesa based libGL.so library for +BeOS will be in the lib/ directory, along libglut.so library. +Several demo/test programs should have been build too under progs/* folders. +If it stop when building one of the progs/* programs, you may want to ignore it +and force make to move on next target by adding the -k make option: + +$ cd progs +$ make -k + +To install it as Be's default libGL.so replacement, put it in your +/boot/home/config/lib/ directory. All your GL/GLUT apps will use +the Mesa based then. + +By default, it build a non-debug version library. +The x86 (MMX, SSE and 3DNOW) optimizations are also supported for x86 target. +For PowerPC BeOS flavor, sorry, Mesa don't have ppc (Altivec) optimizations +yet. + +To build a DEBUG version, type instead this : + +$ DEBUG=1 make + + +* Example Programs + +Look under progs/beos/ for some BGLView-based programs. +You should find under progs/samples and progs/redbook directories GLUT-based programs too. +They all should have been compiled along with the Mesa library. + + +* GLUT + +A beta version of GLUT 3.7 port for BeOS, made by Jake Hamby, can be found at +http://anobject.com/jehamby/Code/Glut-3.7-x86.zip. +This is the version currently included in Mesa source code, and +build in lib/libglut.so. + +A previous 3.5 version of this GLUT BeOS port used to be available at +http://home.beoscentral.com/jehamby/Glut-3.5-x86.zip. + +They're special versions of GLUT for the BeOS platform. I don't +believe Mark Kilgard's normal GLUT distribution includes BeOS +support. + + +* Special Features + +Mesa's implementation of the BGLView class has an extra member +function: CopySubBufferMESA(). It basically works like SwapBuffers() +but it only copies a sub region from the back buffer to the front +buffer. This is a useful optimization for some applications. +If you use this method in your code be sure that you check at runtime +that you're actually using Mesa (with glGetString) so you don't +cause a fatal error when running with Be's OpenGL. + + +* Work Left To Do + +- BDirectWindow single buffering support is not implemented yet. +- Color index mode is not implemented yet. +- Reading pixels from the front buffer not implemented yet. +- There is also a BGLScreen class in BeOS for full-screen OpenGL rendering. + This should also be implemented for Mesa. +- Multiple renderers add-ons support, first step toward hardware acceleration + support. + +* Other contributors to this BeOS port + +Jake Hamby jhamby <at> anobject <dot> com +Marcin Konicki ahwayakchih <at> neoni <dot> net +Francois Revol revol <at> free <dot> fr +Nathan Whitehorn nathanw <at> uchicago <dot> edu + + +* Older BeOS Driver + +Mesa 2.6 had an earlier BeOS driver. It was based on Mesa's Off-screen +rendering interface, not BGLView. If you're interested in the older +driver you should get Mesa 2.6. + + +* BeOS and Glide + +Mesa 3.0 supported the 3Dfx/Glide library on Beos. Download Mesa 3.0 +if interested. Ideally, the 3Dfx/Glide support should be updated to +work with the new Mesa 3.1 BGLView implementation. + +The Glide library hasn't been updated for BeOS R4 and newer, to my knowledge, +as of February, 1999. + + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- +$Id: README.BEOS,v 1.12 2004/10/13 00:35:55 phoudoin Exp $ |