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Intel's Mesa has been lagging behind for quite some time, but today it looks like the wait is over. The Mesa Intel driver finally has OpenGL 4 support.

The last extension needed was "GL_ARB_gpu_shader_fp64" which looks like it was made available today. It currently on supports Broadwell and newer Intel chips.

The Intel driver is also close to OpenGL 4.1 support with only the "GL_ARB_vertex_attrib_64bit" extension missing currently. Once that is done, the Intel driver looks like it will support OpenGL 4.2 as well since all extensions are currently supported there.

You can see how far each driver has come along on the Mesa Matrix website. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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6 comments

Nouser May 16, 2016
Haswell supports OpenGL 4.3 on Windows, yet OpenGL 4.0 is limited to Broadwell and up on Mesa at the moment. I hope they plan to extend the support to older generations in future releases.


Last edited by Nouser on 16 May 2016 at 7:21 pm UTC
lucinos May 16, 2016
Quoting: NouserHaswell supports OpenGL 4.3 on Windows, yet OpenGL 4.0 is limited to Broadwell and up on Mesa at the moment. I hope they plan to extend the support to older generations in future releases.

Somewhere I read that some features of intel HD that are available on Broadwell and above now and on Ivy Bridgy and Haswell but only on Windows, will be available on Haswell and Ivy Bridge on Linux but only with Linux kernel 4.7. So there I am still hoping.
leillo1975 May 16, 2016
Thanks a lot, Igalia (Galician Company)
cRaZy-bisCuiT May 16, 2016
Good to know! Still only Intel Iris Pro will benefit from this featues: Any OpenGL >=4.x will need a lot of performance.
tuubi May 17, 2016
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Quoting: cRaZy-bisCuiTGood to know! Still only Intel Iris Pro will benefit from this featues: Any OpenGL >=4.x will need a lot of performance.
Not quite. Some of the added API and extensions in OpenGL 4 are actually about optimization and lower level hardware access. These features do require compatible (modern) hardware, but not high-end stuff.

Of course it is true that newer API versions tend to be used in newer and more demanding software, and also coders who can properly optimize modern OpenGL code are few and far between, both factors contributing to the common misconception of new API being being more demanding than old.
tmtvl May 17, 2016
So when Shadwen's been released for Linux and patched to work correctly I'll be able to play it. Good to know.
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