__/ [Sinister Midget] on Tuesday 07 February 2006 18:20 \__
> http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3583191
>
> The Linux desktop is about to get a 3-D makeover courtesy of Novell.
>
> Meantime, Winders is about to get (in the next 1-5 years) a *yawn* 2-D
> rerererelease courtesy of MICROS~1:
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/default.mspx
>
> Novell is contributing a new graphics subsystem called "Xgl" and the
> associated "Compiz" compositing manager to the granddaddy of all
> Linux and UNIX windowing infrastructures, X.org.
>
> The move may well herald in a new era of graphics power for Linux
> and according to Novell has already garnered the interest of the
> principal graphics chips vendors, Intel, ATI and Nvidia.
>
> Xgl enables *nix systems to fully take advantage of 3-D acceleration
> hardware. Xgl according to Novell's description is the X server
> architecture layered on top of OpenGL.
>
> The new enhancements enable a long list of capabilities for Linux
> that include improved 3-D capabilities and more fluid "fancy"
> desktop animations and transitions.
3-D capabilities which involve revolving virtual desktops, wobbling menus,
shadows, translucencies and the like are already possible using X.org's
composite module/extension IIRC. I once needed to enable it manually, but
it's definitely there. KDE 3.3/3.4 has made that part of the desktop
environment already although it was experimental at the time.
OpenGL support (even out-of-the-box due to admirable hardware probing) has
been available as long as I have used Linux and far beyond that. I even
wrote 3-D OpenGL programs for Linux (see sig.).
Thus I consider the article a very deceiving one and almost an embarrassment
if put out of context to suggest Linux has just discovered 3-D rendering and
the notion of the polygon.
See the next generation of X:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=de_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fscr3.golem.de%2f%3fd%3d0504%2fx11%26a%3d37579
Also see:
http://gnomedesktop.org/node/2580
<quote>
"A preview of Novell Linux Desktop 10 (NLD10) was shown to an audience at the
Solutions Linux conference this week in Paris. We have a selection of videos
which display a variety of amazing effects through the use of XGL, including
transparency, wobbling windows, a 3D Cube for desktop switching, and a task
switcher which displays a preview of windows."
</quote>
Windows, by the way, has had a go with similar ideas. Micrso~1 intended to
have a pager and there was also an attempt at 3-D environments. As we all
know, what Longhorn drafts promised is not what Vista will deliver.
http://schestowitz.com/Weblog_Frames/sphere_win.jpg
(Quite a nice screenshot)
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | GPL'd Reversi: http://othellomaster.com
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
7:05am up 22 days 2:21, 11 users, load average: 0.61, 0.61, 0.67
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
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