Editing Mesa (computer graphics) (section)

=== Device drivers ===
{{Main|Free and open-source graphics device driver}}
[[File:Linux AMD graphics stack.svg|thumb|Graphics device drivers are implemented using two components: a UMD (user-mode driver) and a KMD (kernel-mode driver). Starting with Linux kernel 4.2 AMD Catalyst and Mesa will share the same Linux kernel driver: ''amdgpu''. Amdgpu provides interfaces defined by DRM and KMS.]]
The available free and open-source device drivers for graphic chipsets are "stewarded" by Mesa (because the existing free and open-source implementation of APIs are developed inside of Mesa). Currently there are two frameworks to write graphics drivers: "classic" and Gallium3D.<ref name="Toral 2014">{{cite web|last1=Toral|first1=Iago|title=Diving into Mesa|url=https://blogs.igalia.com/itoral/2014/08/08/diving-into-mesa/|date=8 August 2014|access-date=19 May 2016}}</ref> An overview over some (but not all) of the drivers available in Mesa is given at {{URL|https://mesamatrix.net/}}.

There are device drivers for AMD/ATI R100 to R800, Intel, and [[nouveau (software)|Nvidia]] cards with 3D acceleration. Previously drivers existed for the IBM/Toshiba/Sony [[Cell (processor)|Cell]] processor of the [[PlayStation 3]], S3 Virge & [[S3 Savage|Savage]] chipsets, VIA chipsets, Matrox G200 & G400, and more.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/Status/|title=Direct Rendering Infrastructure Status Page|publisher=[[freedesktop.org]]}}</ref>

The free and open-source drivers compete with proprietary closed-source drivers. Depending on the availability of hardware documentation and man-power, the free and open-source driver lag behind more or less in supporting 3D acceleration of new hardware. Also, 3D rendering performance was usually significantly slower with some notable exceptions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apcmag.com/how-to-improve-gaming-performance-on-your-linux-machine.htm/|title=How to improve gaming performance on your Linux machine - APC|date=25 July 2013|website=Apcmag.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125023409/http://www.apcmag.com/how-to-improve-gaming-performance-on-your-linux-machine.htm/ |access-date=1 August 2018|archive-date=25 January 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geeks3d.com/20120110/linux-mesa-gallium3d-nouveau-and-nvidia-drivers-opengl-test-gtx-280-gtx-480-gtx-580/|title=Linux: Mesa, Gallium3D, Nouveau and NVIDIA Drivers, OpenGL Test (GTX 280, GTX 480, GTX 580) – Geeks3D|website=Geeks3d.com|date=10 January 2012 |access-date=1 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=18344|title=Nouveau Driver Remains Much Slower Than NVIDIA's Official Driver - Phoronix|website=Phoronix.com|access-date=1 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=july_2013_gpus&num=8|title=Intel/NVIDIA/AMD Compete on Open/Closed Source Linux GPU Driver Performance - Phoronix|website=Phoronix.com|access-date=1 August 2018}}</ref> Today this is still true for Nouveau for most NVIDIA GPUs while on AMDs Radeon GPUs the open driver now mostly matches or exceeds the proprietary driver's performance.