Thanks for all the info and advice!

ok, to make it clear right now:

opengl is a nonsystemspecific api for rendering 3d-stuff. sdl is an api for all the input and output management. its somehow like a little engine, but also verry abstract. you can open windows, check inputevents, load pictures, play sound, and of course, render some stuff. sdl, at one point just provides 2drendering directly to the colorbuffer (backbuffer in doublebuffering). sdl draws its buffer using opengl, or dx on windows (if you want, it uses ogl on windows too), so the window you open with sdl has an RenderingContextHandle, and you can use opengl with the sdl-created-window. Just see sdl as something like glut, but with advanced functionality and better abstaction.

i hope you got it for now...

PS: Newby-board and sticky would be nice, since this question seems to appear way too often...

ok fooman, got it!