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

[Michael Mol]

On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 11:17 AM, Adam Tauno Williams
<awilliam at whitemice.org> wrote:
> 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]

API is the correct term.

>
>> 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.

My sentence in (2) should be parsed as "OpenGL must be accelerated",
not "in order to be accelerated", just to be clear.

I think I mostly understand, though.

-- 
:wq

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