Folks,
The next version of Mac OS X ("Jaguar") includes "Quartz Extreme". Let's call
it QX for short.
Quartz is the standard 2D display system for Mac OS X and is (you probably
know) effectively an implementation of Adobe's Display PostScript - like with
NeXT - but done to PDF (Acrobat) standards rather than the official Display
PostScript. By doing it this way, Apple (I think) avoided paying PostScript
licence fees to Adobe. The happy side-effect is that any OS X application can
create PDF files simply by printing to a PDF format file. Saves buying Acrobat
Distiller.
QX takes this a stage further. QX converts the 2D screen image to be an OpenGL
scene. This scene can then be rendered more quickly because modern graphics
cards have accelerated support for the OpenGL libraries. Hence, doing it this
way, Apple have created "Hardware-accelerated-Display-PostScript" without
needing anyone else's support. Neat.
I'm not aware that equivalent technology is yet available on PC (whether under
Windows or under Linux/BSD).
Downside is that QX only works officially on supported AGP cards with 32 MB
VRAM. Supported cards are ATI Radeons and various GeForce. However: it may be
that there is still limited support for lesser spec PCI cards, such as might be
used in unsupported Mac systems. Please tell us of any successes here.
Upside is that Mac OS X gets a USP over other platforms.
Note, in passing, that QX depends on the graphics card, not the Mac. Hence it
should work just as well on a PC implementation of Mac OS X. Not that Apple
would ever produce such a thing, I'm sure...
Gerald WW
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