In this article, we will guide you on how to check your OpenGL version in Ubuntu using the Terminal. OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-platform, language-independent, graphical hardware interface. It’s used in CAD, virtual reality, video games, and flight simulation. Knowing which OpenGL version your Ubuntu system is running can be necessary for development or troubleshooting purposes.
To check your OpenGL version in Ubuntu using the Terminal, you can use the glxinfo command followed by grep to filter the specific information you need. The output will display the OpenGL version number.
Prerequisites
Before we dive into the process, ensure that you have the following:
- An Ubuntu system.
- Terminal access.
- Basic understanding of Linux commands.
Accessing the Terminal
To start, you need to open the Terminal. You can do this by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on your keyboard or by clicking on the Terminal icon from the list of applications.
Installing Necessary Packages
The glxinfo command, which is used to check the OpenGL version, is not installed by default on Ubuntu. It’s part of the mesa-utils package. To install it, you can use the apt-get command, which is a powerful command-line tool used for package management in Ubuntu.
Run the following command:
sudo apt-get install mesa-utilsHere, sudo is used to run the command with root permissions, apt-get is the package handling utility, install is the command to install a package, and mesa-utils is the package name.
Checking the OpenGL Version
After successfully installing the mesa-utils package, you can now check the OpenGL version. To do this, use the glxinfo command followed by the grep command to filter out the specific information you need.
Here’s the command:
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"In this command, glxinfo displays information about the OpenGL and X11 configurations, | is a pipe that takes the output of the first command and uses it as input for the second command, and grep is used to search the output for the specific string “OpenGL version”.
The output will look something like this:
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.2The version number is indicated in this string. In this example, the OpenGL version is 3.0.
Conclusion
In this article, we have shown you how to check the OpenGL version on your Ubuntu system using the Terminal. This information can be essential for developers, gamers, or anyone needing to troubleshoot graphics-related issues on their system. Remember to replace the example commands with your specific details where necessary. Happy computing!
For more information on OpenGL, you can visit the official website here. For more details on glxinfo and other Linux commands, check out the man pages here.
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-platform, language-independent, graphical hardware interface. It is used in various fields such as CAD, virtual reality, video games, and flight simulation.
Checking your OpenGL version can be necessary for development or troubleshooting purposes. It helps you ensure compatibility with certain applications or diagnose graphics-related issues on your system.
To access the Terminal in Ubuntu, you can press Ctrl + Alt + T on your keyboard or find the Terminal icon in the list of applications.
No, the glxinfo command is not installed by default in Ubuntu. You need to install the mesa-utils package, which includes the glxinfo command, using the sudo apt-get install mesa-utils command.
After installing the mesa-utils package, you can check the OpenGL version by running the command glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version" in the Terminal. The output will display the version number.
You can visit the official website of OpenGL at https://www.opengl.org/ for more information about the library.
You can refer to the man pages for glxinfo and other Linux commands. The man pages provide detailed information and usage instructions. You can access them by typing man glxinfo or man [command] in the Terminal.
