|
XFree is already graphics accelerated. You might be referring to Quartz Extreme, which apart from having a silly name is more about using the 3D card to perform compositing. That type of thing really isn't possible on XFree at the moment, though there have been prototypes floating about. Speaking as somebody who's used MacOS X, I can tell you that it's mostly overrated - shifting window compositing onto the GFX card is basically a tactic to try and free up the CPU to make it appear less slow (MacOS has some slightly dubious design decisions that have large performance penalties).
The next Big Things in X development are:
- Xr/Xc, these provide an API similar in style to the Display PDF system used in MacOS, but different and with state stored client side. It will have multiple backends, allowing the same content to be printed, displayed in an accelerated fashion and saved to PDF (one day).
- Proper backing store/save under implementation, in english that means the ability to do semi-transparent windows, which in turn lets you do stuff like menu and window drop shadows in a way that isn't lame (kde does this today, but in a rather bad way).
If you must have toothpaste-tube GUIs there are skins that will let you do that, but the way MacOS looks has little to do with the underlying display engine and everything to do with fashion and artwork.
|
When do we get a graphic accelerated desktop enviroment?
