I am building an OpenGL demo, but I need a way to find out what the target computer is able to run in as far as bits

a) CPU register/addressing size : check sizeof(void*) (in bytes)
b) OGL functionality : call glGetString() with GL_VERSION or GL_EXTENSIONS

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For further info on the cpu you''ll have to do some asm - check for the existence of the CPUID instruction and (if it exists) use it to retrieve the make, model, family and stepping info (Google). If it isn''t, you''ll have to base your conclusions on even more processor specific info. Note that all newer cpu''s have this instruction (since Pentium or 486 or something - not too sure). Furthermore, AFAIK new cpu''s (Atlons > 800 MHz (and their equals) or so - I could be wrong) have some burned in string which you can retrieve directly without having to base you conclusion on a set of tests. If you want cpu speed, then, again, you''ll have to fall back on testing. The instruction you''re looking for here is RDTSC (read time stamp counter). This is pretty heavy if you have never done assembly before - and what''s bad about it, is that there is no good API out there (such as OpenGL for the gpu), so I''m afraid you''ll have to write everything from scratch...

Crispy