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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!news.sdsmt.edu!news.mid.net!sbctri.tri.sbc.com!newspump.wustl.edu!news.ecn.bgu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!news.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!uunet!inXS.uu.net!in2.uu.net!nwnews.wa.com!news1.halcyon.com!coho!tzs From: tzs@coho.halcyon.com (Tim Smith) Newsgroups: comp.graphics.api.misc,comp.graphics.algorithms,comp.windows.x.i386unix,gnu.misc.discuss,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.development.apps Subject: Re: Freeware community needs 3d library NOW Date: 25 Jun 1996 04:24:55 GMT Organization: Northwest Nexus, Inc. - Professional Internet Services Lines: 25 Message-ID: <4qnpmn$l2m@news1.halcyon.com> References: <4qlf04$7pj@guysmiley.blarg.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: coho.halcyon.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.graphics.api.misc:616 comp.graphics.algorithms:28902 comp.windows.x.i386unix:20339 gnu.misc.discuss:26687 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:22075 comp.os.linux.development.apps:17992 Brandon J. Van Every <vanevery@blarg.net> wrote: >Microsoft's umbrella allows 3d accelerator vendors to hide their board >specs behind the Direct3d API. Because Direct3d will be popular, >there is no market incentive for 3d vendors to seek an alternative. >Put simply, the freeware community is about to be completely locked >out of any access to 3d accelerator technology. > >If the freeware community does not act _fast_, then freeware platforms >such as Linux, FreeBSD, XFree86, GNU, etc. will be forever >crippled as 3d platforms. They will simply never catch up. For Or, they will change so that vendor drivers for Direct3d acceleration also run under Linux, FreeBSD, etc., and then everyone gets acceleration and the vendor only has to write one set of drivers per chipset/board. I haven't specifically looked at the environment that a Direct3d driver runs in, but Microsoft has been moving for the last few years toward making the drivers that deal with hardware in Windows (all versions, including NT and 95) reside in clean layers that don't really have much, if any, knowledge of Windows. (E.g., look at NT miniport drivers sometime. Those things could be adapted to any modern operating system that has a decently designed I/O system). I'd be surprised if the Direct3d drivers specifically have to run in a Windows environment. --Tim Smith