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Mesa (computer graphics)
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<p>Mesa, also called Mesa3D and The Mesa 3D Graphics Library, is an <a href="/facts/Open-source_software/HzTaB8E9">open source</a> implementation of <a href="/facts/OpenGL/xQoMWePr">OpenGL</a>, <a href="/facts/Vulkan/e188Vdpc">Vulkan</a>, and other <a href="/facts/Graphics_API/QkHaISm6">graphics API</a> specifications. Mesa translates these specifications to vendor-specific graphics hardware drivers. </p><p>Its most important users are two graphics drivers mostly developed and funded by <a href="/facts/Intel/SMF0gJJX">Intel</a> and <a href="/facts/AMD/CB1G7QTb">AMD</a> for their respective hardware (AMD promotes their Mesa drivers Radeon and RadeonSI over the deprecated <a href="/facts/AMD_Catalyst/ntMxIHW0">AMD Catalyst</a>, and Intel has only supported the Mesa driver). Proprietary graphics drivers (e.g., <a href="/facts/Nvidia_GeForce_driver/HhHGHp4Y">Nvidia GeForce driver</a> and Catalyst) replace all of Mesa, providing their own implementation of a graphics API. An open-source effort to write a Mesa Nvidia driver called <a href="/facts/Nouveau_(software)/pEQRuxsH">Nouveau</a> is developed mostly by the community. </p><p>Besides 3D applications such as games, modern <a href="/facts/Display_server/nKYmkjP6">display servers</a> (<a href="/facts/Glamor_(software)/7AaPmYtV">X.org's Glamor</a> or <a href="/facts/Wayland_(display_server_protocol)/I9I1TbEG">Wayland</a>'s <a href="/facts/Weston_(software)/I9I1TbEG">Weston</a>) use OpenGL/<a href="/facts/EGL_(API)/meQcl9rp">EGL</a>; therefore all graphics typically go through Mesa. </p><p>Mesa is hosted by <a href="/facts/Freedesktop.org/qGlctGYA">freedesktop.org</a> and was initiated in August 1993 by <a href="/facts/Brian_Paul/a6CW0nBw">Brian Paul</a>, who is still active in the project. Mesa was subsequently widely adopted and now contains numerous contributions from various individuals and corporations worldwide, including from the graphics hardware manufacturers of the <a href="/facts/Khronos_Group/QIegX0zJ">Khronos Group</a> that administer the OpenGL specification. For Linux, development has also been partially driven by <a href="/facts/Crowdfunding/u9gwrlYI">crowdfunding</a>. </p>