XGL And The Future Of Linux

[KazDoran 0]

As Linux becomes more and more a mainstream OS, in the image of Windows and MacOS, it seems Linux distro developers are becoming ever-more interested in developing appealling graphical interfaces for this great OS.

The latest example is the introduction of Xgl, a graphical subsystem that runs over OpenGL to introduce some special effects (aka eye-candy) to existing graphical desktops, like Gnome.

Novell recently showed off their most recent Linux Desktop running Xgl (you can get a good look at it on this site).

Xgl is part of FreeDesktop development so it will be avaliable to all linux distros sooner or later.

I've installed it on my development version of Ubuntu (Dapper Drake) and I must say I'm very impressed. It has very good effects with very good performance, and I'd dare to say it beats MacOS X and will beat Windows Vista in those aspects.

Now the question is... how will the introduction of Xgl change the way developers and users alike look to Linux? Sure it may increase the appeal to regular PC users (most of them like to have the latest "bling" on their desktop) and it opens new windows (no pun intended) of development in that area, as developers will be able to create their own effects, increase performance and whatnot.

But how will it affect the current development of linux distros? In the long term, will it take attention away from security or performance aspects to please consumers eager to have a cool looking desktop? Or won't it, and Linux will stay a "techie-only" OS like everyone wrongly seems to look at it today?

Shout out your two cents!

[qwijibow 0]

But how will it affect the current development of linux distros?

i dont think it will.

Rendering the X11 clients with OpenGL takes load away from the main CPU, and uses otherwise wasted GPU time...

for those who dont have a GPU ( supported GPU, or powerfull enough GPU) they can just turn off the openGL and use normal x11. or VESA.

Remember, this work only effects wndow managers, and X servers.

this does not effect kernel developers, Apache / openSSL developers in the slightest.

If for whatever reason this X server is un-secure, then any self-respecting distro packagers will not include it.

This is a great thing..

I send many hours a day working at a computer screen, keeping it looking nice keeps me happy.

an extra X server, is just extra choice, and we can never have too much choice.

[abhiram 0]

how will the introduction of Xgl change the way developers and users alike look to Linux?

Those are some real cool effects. Many people I know don't prefer Linux because it's not graphically attractive. Windows, you can change the themes, effects whatnot very easily. But it isn't so in Linux.

With really cool (and useful) eye-candy, Linux will definitely get some push and more people will realise that Linux has some real potential.

[Quatrux 4]

I wanted to see this for myself, so my brother has burned a life cd with the new X server. Actually I thought it won't work with his gfx card which is only 32 MB but it loaded from the CD with no problems and worked really fast. I quite liked all the special effects on the desktop, most of them are convenient and some are even funny, but it is powerful.I was amazed by the speed, the performance was really good, I wonder how it would work with a much more modern gfx card. I remember I tried WindowsFX or something on WindowsXP to make the windows "cool" but it was really slow, my performance of windows got really slow, so I uninstalled it and never wanted to see it again. Of course I have to agree that is using more resources, but we always can choose, that is great.Well, I think that most of the Linux distributions had already had a lot of customization, you could do a lot if you wanted, many themes and mouse pointers etc. I think that Linux really has a lot of what to show now, not only as a server OS, but as a desktop OS too, if Windows Vista will fail again as longhorn at the end of this year, we will see much more Linux users. More and more people knows about Linux even if they did not use it yet, that is really good. Some years ago when I mentioned that word, most of people were lost.

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

Wow that's pretty awesome. Real transparency makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside Haha, but yea it looks like it could be awesome, I'll need to try this out soon.As for whether or not it will affect other developement, I can't imagine it would take away much. I mean, there are dedicated groups that are working on improving security issues, and others dedicated to x11 related things. With open source, the programmers work on the issues they want to, which helps both keep people working where they are most efficient, and also making sure that if one area gets a bit more attention, there will still developement in the other areas.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

well, since XGL is kind of like an alternative of the Windows Aero and the Mac OS X Quartz. So, it's not going to really affect Linuxxboxrulz

Edited March 13, 2006 by xboxrulz (see edit history)

[hatim 0]

{sarcasm}]Now All microsoft has to do is make a XGL killer {/sarcasm}, (note they lately claim to work on killers..as they sit ducks during innovation ...and then just react to it later.

[KazDoran 0]

Thanks for all the good replies!Was off this forum for a few days and I'm happy to read your feedback! :oAbout Microsoft's position, I totally agree with hatim. Most of the times they do all the great stuff later than everyone else and claim to be innovative. Saw a few examples as a Microsoft representative showed off Vista in my university (Instituto Superior Tecnico, at Lisbon) and well... everyone saw all that stuff implemented in Linux already . But that's another story!Quatrux, the real reason Xgl didn't work on your brother's PC is the fact that his graphics card doesn't have hardware-level Pixel Shader support. That or he owns an ATI (Xgl is a bit more troublesome with those for now). If you compile the Xgl sources it'll work, I guess. 32 MB will be enough to run Xgl as far as I've heard. :oThe difference between a mid-end card and one like mine, a 128 MB Geforce 6600 GT, shouldn't be too visible.My hopes are like all of yours! That this kind of new software brings more and more people to the world of free software!

[qwijibow 0]

Xgl and compiz (the cool efects) runs fine on my Nvidia GeForce 4 MX 440 AGP 4X (quite old card) with little noticable performance hits.

However, there does seem to be some wasted CPU cycles when wathing DVD's on XGL...

possably a bug that wil be worked out.

For anyone interested in testing Xgl and Compiz on a live CD without messing up your current install, (and has a nVidis Ge-Force 2 or newer ( or ATI of similar age or newer )

take a look at karoraa.

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

make sure you get the Xgl version, the regual one is just a stable gentoo distro.

(not that gentoo doesnt kick *bottom* )