How to get OpenGL 2.1

How do I get the new OpenGL 2.1 ?
I explored opengl.org only to find some page saying that OpenGL is already available in my workstation because I am using Visual Studio 2003.

Found the gl.h etc, got it to work, but problem is that because it is VS 2003, the OpenGL is kinda outdated and won’t let me do non power of 2 textures, which is really essential to my application.

Somebody please help this lost beginner. :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks,
Celios

Sigh… Please read the wiki, there is a section on extensions. OpenGL cannot be “outdated” because of VS 2003 as it is implemented by the driver. NPOT textures work out of teh box on platforms that support them (means you create a 2d texture that is not POT and it works). What graphics card you work with?

Zengar, Thanks for the reply.
I thought OpenGL is like DirectX SDK where we constantly download new SDK every few months or so.
The graphics card I am working with is an old Radeon 9600 XT with an outdated driver.

I will look for new drivers then.
That is if ATI still support this old card.

Thanks very much !!! :slight_smile:

Thanks Zengar,
I am still a little confused.
So suppose there is an extension which will become official in OpenGL 3.0. Then for an existing video card claimed to support OpenGL 3.0, the card company needs to develope a new driver to support that extension calls, and we users have to install that new driver to execute a program using that extension. Am I right?

How about gl.h and glu.h? They don’t need any update?

firegun9, your are right. New drivers give access to new extensions (if the video card can support it). Some extension are renamed (EXT_* -> ARB_, NV_ -> ARB_* …). I think some extensions are also emulated by the driver ( maybe vertex shader in my GeForce1).

gl.h and glu.h are not updated. You can use glext.h (if you find an updated version of it), GLee or GLEW. Or you can get the function pointers by yourself.

GLee, GLEW :
http://www.opengl.org/sdk/libs/

Another link:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/programming/features/oglext/

Thanks greg2,
That gamedev link is exactly what I need to read.