Okay. I actually figured it out! It's very simple. You just use glUseProgram(program_id) switch between shaders during the run-time step. When I initially tried this, it didn't work, but that was...

This may be answered somewhere, but I haven't found it. I'm wondering if it is possible to switch between different shader programs within a single rendering step. I'll explain what I mean with an...

I tested it with an nVidia card.... and sure enough the vertex shader goes just as fast as the fixed pipeline. So, that's cool. :)

McLeary, thanks.

Thanks for the advice and helpful info. I'll try to get a hold of an nVidia card for my desktop and test it from there.

That's very helpful. I don't know if I may ask this here, but do you know if I can add an nVidia card to my laptop? Or must I buy a whole new laptop?

Under display adapter, Device Manager says "Intel(R) HD Graphics"

I just tested it on another laptop: this one was bought just a few months ago, but it's also a i3. Same results. Somehow I don't think that my implementation is emulating vertex shaders in software.

Thanks. I have a I3. Windows properties reports: WDC WD3200BEVT ATA device. I got the comp last summer... Are you suggesting that on a different hardware, the fixed functionality wouldn't be faster...

Interesting. Does this mean that my implementation must be emulating the vertex shader in software? I'm a newbie.

I'm wondering if it's possible to pass a varying variable into a fragment shader without having to write a vertex shader to pass that variable along. I know how to pass information into gl_Color (a...

I realize there has already been some discussion the performance of a vertex shader vs. fixed functionality. I would like to find out if (or confirm that) vertex shaders are ALWAYS slower. I ran a...