I'm very new to linux and have just installed mandrake
linux 7.2. I've got some experience with OpenGL.
I'd appreciate it if someone would answer a few questions
I have.

1. How is the driver situation set up in linux?
Does it go: application calls routine in
someLibGL.so, someLibGL.so communicates request
to video display driver, driver draws the figures
on the screen. Is it a 2-level process like that?
Where could I find the *libGL.so and the "driver" files?
(I've got a voodoo3 2k)

2. I've currently got mesa installed via an rpm
(mandrake evidently did this for me). I just
downloaded the newest version of mesa from sourceforge.
It's just a been more recent than the one I've already
got. Trouble is, this one from sourceforge is not an
rpm file. Can someone tell me how I'm supposed to
remove the "old" mesa and install the new mesa (perhaps without confusing linux's package management software)?

3. Is there anyway to switch hardware acceleration on and
off so I can see the speed difference?

Thanks!