To use the OpenGL versions of the graphical display sinks, you must ensure that you have Python wrappers for OpenGL installed and are using a version of wxPython that supports it. Then you must enable this mode by creating or editing an entry in the GNU Radio preferences file at: ~/.gnuradio/config.conf [wxgui] style=gl The style parameter accepts 'nongl', 'gl', and 'auto', and defaults to 'auto'. 'nongl' forces the use of the non-GL (current) sinks. 'gl' forces the use of the new GL based sinks, and will raise an exception if the appropriate GL support does not exist. 'auto' currently equates to 'nongl'; however, in release 3.2, this will change to use GL if possible and if not, fallback to the non-GL versions.