How to Run Xgl without Hardware Acceleration

You don't have a graphics card with 3D-acceleration? No problem, you can play with Xgl nonetheless.

Before I give you the details and instructions, please watch the following videos to get an idea of what you can expect.

(Please note that this is still experimental, but due to the huge interest this gets everywhere, I decided to publish these instructions now.)

Even if you don't intend to record screen videos, you may use this feature of DemoRecorder to get Xgl running.

please scroll down for the instructions.


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Warning: include(../xgl/xgl-on-mesa-640x480-small.html): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /www/htdocs/demorec/demorecorder.com/www/howto/xgl-on-mesa/index.php on line 35

Warning: include(): Failed opening '../xgl/xgl-on-mesa-640x480-small.html' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:..') in /www/htdocs/demorec/demorecorder.com/www/howto/xgl-on-mesa/index.php on line 35
This video has been recorded with DemoRecorder with a resolution of 640x480 pixels on a Athlon 2Ghz. The graphics card used does not support 3d acceleration, DemoRecorder emulates that in Software, using Mesa.

This video has been scaled down to 320x240 resolution. You may watch the full size video here, but you need a very fast network connection ( at least 4Mbit/sec ).

DemoRecorder has a builtin OpenGL emulation based on Mesa, so no hardware acceleration by your graphics card is needed.

Even if you don't intend to record screen videos, you may use DemoRecorder to get Xgl running.


Warning: include(../xgl/xgl-on-mesa-800x600-small.html): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /www/htdocs/demorec/demorecorder.com/www/howto/xgl-on-mesa/index.php on line 53

Warning: include(../xgl/xgl-on-mesa-800x600-small.html): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /www/htdocs/demorec/demorecorder.com/www/howto/xgl-on-mesa/index.php on line 53

Warning: include(): Failed opening '../xgl/xgl-on-mesa-800x600-small.html' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:..') in /www/htdocs/demorec/demorecorder.com/www/howto/xgl-on-mesa/index.php on line 53
This video has been recorded with DemoRecorder with a resolution of 800x600 pixels.

This video has been scaled down to 400x300 resolution. You may watch the full size video here, but you need a very fast network connection ( at least 4Mbit/sec ).

Step by Step instructions

Here are the instructions:
  1. Download and Install the newest version of DemoRecorder at:
    http://www.DemoRecorder.com/download
  2. Download the Xgl-binary at:
    http://download.DemoRecorder.com/download/Xgl-cvs20060429-drpatch-bin.tar.bz2
  3. Unpack the Xgl binary in /opt. (please note that it is bzip2 compressed, so use "tar xvpjf" instead of "tar xvpzf")
    cd /opt
    tar xvpjf your-download-dir/Xgl-cvs20060429-drpatch-bin.tar.bz2 -C /opt
    

    This will install an Xgl package under /opt/Xgl.

  4. Make a symlink to your X11-fonts, so Xgl finds them:
    mkir /opt/Xgl/lib/X11
    cd /opt/Xgl/lib/X11
    ln -s /usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts
    

    If you have your native X installed in another location than /usr/X11, such as /usr/X11R6, please replace the path in the "ln"-command in second line accordingly.

  5. Start DemoRecorder with commandline-option --xgl, which automatically starts Xgl from /opt/Xgl before starting the desktop:
    /opt/DemoRecorder/bin/demorec --xgl
    
    If you want to use another resolution, say 640x480, please specify it with --width and --height
       
    /opt/DemoRecorder/bin/demorec --xgl --width 640 --height 480
    
  6. If compiz is not started automatically by your desktop, please open a shell-window in the Desktop nested inside DemoRecorder and enter the following commands:
    compiz --replace decoration wobbly fade minimize cube rotate zoom scale move resize place switcher &
    gnome-window-decorator &
    

That's it!

Have fun,

Chris

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