How can I be sure OpenGL is working?

Question

I'm seeing performance issues when running Kerbal Space Program on my Thinkpad T430 (Core i7 2.9 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Intel onboard graphics), and one of the things I've been told to try is running under DirectX or OpenGL. I know DirectX is Windows specific, but how can I make sure OpenGL is loaded and working?

Ubuntu Mate 16.04.3, 4.10.* kernel, Ubuntu native version of KSP (not Steam or Windows/Wine).

Answer 1

Execute the following command in a Terminal:

glxinfo | grep '^direct rendering:'

If in the result shows Yes, then you have 3D acceleration, and hence OpenGL.

If glxinfo is not installed in your system, then install it first by executing the following command on a Terminal:

sudo apt install mesa-utils

Here is the output of my terminal installing mesa-utils and executing the command I told you before:

galoget@hackem:~$ sudo apt install mesa-utils
[sudo] password for galoget: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  mesa-utils
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 31,9 kB of archives.
After this operation, 125 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu artful/universe amd64 mesa-utils amd64 8.3.0-5 [31,9 kB]
Fetched 31,9 kB in 1s (24,2 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package mesa-utils.
(Reading database ... 161837 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../mesa-utils_8.3.0-5_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking mesa-utils (8.3.0-5) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.6.1-2) ...
Setting up mesa-utils (8.3.0-5) ...

galoget@hackem:~$ glxinfo | grep '^direct rendering:'
direct rendering: Yes

Hope it helps.