The improvements to X over OpenGL (Xgl), the graphics technology that underlies Linux, will render images faster and improve 3-D graphics and video for users running Linux-based desktops, said Charlie Mancusi-Ungaro, Novell's director of marketing for Linux and open-source. The new capabilities, already available in source code, arrive before Microsoft Corp.'s much-ballyhooed Aero graphical user interface in the upcoming Vista operating system.

The updated rendering technology will be offered as an option for Version 10 of Novell's Linux Desktop software, which is due out this summer, Mancusi-Ungaro said. The code will be offered to the open-source community, so he expects the updated Xgl to be incorporated into other Linux flavors, such as Red Hat or Ubuntu.

Xgl is a version of the X Window System developed more than 20 years ago for the Unix operating system. The subsystem supports Linux desktop environments, such as KDE (K Desktop Environment) or GNOME (GNU Object Model Environment).

The new Xgl version can run on most Linux-based PCs with 3-D graphics cards purchased in the past 18 months, said Mancusi-Ungaro.

Simply Gimmicks?