First, What is Mesa?

Basically, Mesa is a set of software that is responsible for managing the graphical section in Linux systems. Mesa also includes the drivers and implementations of the different APIS such as OpenGL.

On the other hand, Mesa’s development is quite active, counting on companies like Valve. This is of great help for all the Linux community that is benefited with a first-class graphics stack.

So, as you can see, Mesa is a vital component within a Linux system.

Mesa 18.3 available

A new version of Mesa was recently released. Specifically, I’m talking about version 18.3 of this graphic stack for linux. This new version has a special relevance for those who use Intel and AMD graphics cards. Especially when using open source drivers.

In this new version have worked about 120 developers providing 1700 changes. So, we are in the presence of a fairly new version of Mesa.

Some of its most notable features are:

• Support for AMD APUs and GPUs Raven, Picasso, and VEGA. That is, quite interesting.
• Improvements in the support of the free implementation of Vulkan for AMD, RADV graphics.
• Support for Intel Whiskey Lake and Amber Lake has also been improved.

It could be said then that Mesa 18.3 has practically wetted all the fronts it covers.

All this is very nice, however, the developers encourage people to wait for version 18.3.1 for greater stability. This is because this version is loaded with new features and it’s expected that there may be some bugs. So, if you want guaranteed stability, wait a little longer.

How can I install it?

Being a critical component of the system, Mesa 18.3 depends on each of the distributions that implement it in its own way. For example, Rolling Release distributions such as Arch Linux or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed will soon include it. Others like Debian or Ubuntu will have to wait.

In the case of Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19, there is a dedicated PPA to install the latest versions of Mesa. At the time of writing this post, version 18.3 is not yet available but don’t worry, it will come.

Open a terminal and run these commands:

:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates
:~$ sudo apt update
:~$ sudo apt dist-upgrade

Sure, watch out, Mesa is a critical component. If you really need to use it you can use those commands, but if it’s not necessary, stay still.

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On Unix-based systems such as BSD derivatives, or Linux distributions, Mesa implements a manufacturer-independent translation layer between a graphics API such as OpenGL and the graphics drivers in the core operating system. A variety of device drivers allows the Mesa libraries to be used in many different environments ranging from software emulation to complete hardware acceleration for modern GPUs.

The new version of Mesa3D brings us the following new features:

• OpenGL 3.1 with ARB_compatibility on nv50, nvc0, r600, radeonsi, softpipe, llvmpipe, svga
• GL_ARB_bindless_texture on nvc0/maxwell+
• GL_ARB_transform_feedback_overflow_query on nvc0
• GL_EXT_semaphore on radeonsi
• GL_EXT_semaphore_fd on radeonsi
• GL_EXT_shader_framebuffer_fetch on i965 on desktop GL (GLES was already supported)
• GL_EXT_shader_framebuffer_fetch_non_coherent on i965

And many more. Also many bugs were fixed in this version.

However, having an updated version of Mesa may not be convenient. But if you want more performance from our graphics card, then this tutorial is for you.

Installing Mesa3D

Canonical has always moved the new releases from the Mesa suite to the Ubuntu operating system and today the developer Timo Aaltonen has reported that the latest Mesa 18.1.1 version is now available through the official PPA repositories.

The game developers take Ubuntu as a reference in the GNU/LINUX world, so they always take care of the Graphic Card support.

The first thing we need to do is update the system:

             sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade

Then we add the repository where Mesa3D is located:

            sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates

Then we have to do a complete update on the distribution.

           sudo apt dist-upgrade

Note: The command “apt update” is not required any more in Ubuntu 18.04 since adding PPA automatically refreshes system repositories.

Then run the following command on a terminal:

                   sudo apt install mesa-utils

After restarting the computer we proceed to execute the following command to verify the version of Mesa3D.

            glxinfo | grep “OpenGL version”

As a conclusion we can say that Mesa3D is a fundamental open source library in GNU/Linux, so it is well known and its development is quite active.

As a conclusion we can say that Mesa3D is a fundamental open source library in GNU/Linux, so it is well known and its development is quite active.

Thanks to the ease of use that characterizes Ubuntu and the great support of the videogame creators for this distribution, we can have the updated versions of Mesa through a PPA.

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The post How to install Mesa 18.1.1 in Ubuntu 18.04? appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.