[GRLUG] GNOME3 [Was: Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) released!!]

[Adam Tauno Williams]

On Thu, 2011-10-27 at 10:49 -0400, Michael Mol wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 10:35 AM, John-Thomas Richards
> <jtr at jrichards.org> wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 09:35:33AM -0400, Michael Mol wrote:
> >> On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 9:25 AM, Adam Tauno Williams
> >> <awilliam at whitemice.org> wrote:
> >> > Actually GNOME3 is quite lite;  but you *need* OpenGL acceleration.
> >> > "Need" as in "must have".
> >> > People say things like "you need 3D acceleration" - that statement is
> >> > false.  If your OpenGL is working correctly you should be OK.
> >> Request for clarification: I take it that Mesa's software rendering is
> >> insufficient? I would think it should be able to make for a tolerable
> >> experience as long as fancy effects like transparency are avoided.
> > 3D acceleration (which has been pointed out is not a
> > requirement)
> (snipped irrelevant portions to make my point clear)
> ATW starts by noting that you *need* OpenGL acceleration, but then
> says you don't need 3D acceleration. This can be taken a few ways:

The issue is that "3D acceleration" is an essentially meaningless term.
Applications use some API (OpenGL, DirectX, etc...) to communicate with
the GPU.  [Maybe "API" is the wrong term here, no sure]

> 1) You need OpenGL, but you don't need hardware acceleration.

If your OpenGL is working, even via some kind of software emulation,
then GNOME Shell should "work".  Your experience will probably be lousy.
Some cards, on which OpenGL may "work", are specifically black-listed in
GNOME Shell - OpenGL is checked in the box but you'll go to GNOME3
fall-back anyway.

> 2) You need OpenGL to be accelerated, but you don't need hardware
> acceleration. This doesn't make sense in any practical sense, but
> would be the most likely reading.

I believe this is true.  You need a GPU that (a) supports OpenGL and
where (b) OpenGL operations are accelerated [support == accelerated is
not necessarily true, something may accelerate DirectX (or some other
API) but not OpenGL (or, I suppose, vice-versa)].

This is how it was explained to me by a GNOME developer / PTB.



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