Using OpenGL Without X-Window System

This is how i did it in my ubuntu 11.04 in detail:1- Install the dependencies using the command:

sudo apt-get install xutils-dev libpciaccess-dev x11proto-dri2-dev x11proto-gl-dev libxdamage-dev libxfixes-dev

2- The mesa library needs libdrm version >= 2.4.24 which is not available in the ubuntu 11.04 repository (older version is available) so you have to download the source and build it using the following commands:

./configuremakemake install

3-Download mesa library and then compile it using the following commands:./configure --prefix=install_directory

make realcleanmake linux-fbdevsudo make install

be careful when you choose the install_directory so that you don't overwrite the system's mesa library.after that compile your application using the options : -lGL -lOSMesa -ldl -L'install_directory/lib' -I'install_directory/include'

Apparently is possible to have SDL running without X.

Basically, your kernel should have framebuffer support and you could use SDL on top of DirectFB.

These threads are ok:

http://lists.libsdl.org/pipermail/sdl-libsdl.org/2006-October/058305.html

http://forums.libsdl.org/viewtopic.php?t=4079

As you said, you need a driver to do this. 99.9% of all Linux graphics drivers use X11, so unless you have a DirectFB OpenGL driver for your hardware, you are stuck with using X11.