Move it to any other place, if I posted it in wrong section.


In Linux usually OpenGL commands are packed into GLX commands and sent through X server yet one can bypass X server using MiniGLX. In Windows the similar thing is done by DirectDraw and Direct3D and is called exclusive mode. Basically, new surface is created and everything rendered into it independently from desktop management - window system has no access to it.

The question is how OpenGL is rendered in Windows XP? I found out that Vista uses exclusive mode for OpenGL too, but Vista uses new driver architecture which is different from 2000/XP.
Does GDI manage OpenGL or does OpenGL have separate rendering path & surface too?

Vista emulates OpenGL, and passes them in to d3d calls...*
Vista by default does not support OpenGL > 1.3...*

*unless you install drivers from vendor...

Ok, so software rendering is done similarly to wine but only in windows and then it should be exclusive, but what about hardware rendering path?