X-Win32 PC X Server Signs Up for Apple's Boot Camp

Boot Camp lets users install Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows XP operating system and Windows-based applications on the latest Macintosh computers, which are based on Intel's (Nasdaq: INTC) Core Duo microprocessors.

Quadrupled Frame Rates

X-Win32 runs on iMac and other Intel-based Macintosh computers, allowing users to connect to powerful engineering, database and networking applications running on remote Unix and Linux servers, StarNet said.

Windows applications are widely reported to run faster on Intel-based Macintosh computers than on the hardware traditionally used with these systems, StarNet pointed out.

Tests of several OpenGL-based X Windows applications, running on a remote Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) Linux server show frame rate improvements of up to 4 times on a 2 GHz dual-core Pentium iMac compared to a Windows PC running under control of a 2 GHz Pentium processor, the company said.

Boon for Power Users

Boot Camp is a publicly distributed beta version of a new feature developed for "Leopard" -- the next version of Apple's Mac OS X.

"The Boot Camp program is ideal for engineers and other power users seeking more performance and greater reliability," said Paul Swart, StarNet's vice president of sales and marketing.

"They can now move to the Apple platform without fear of losing their ability to connect to EDA (electronic design automation), CAD (computer aided design) and other applications that are either Windows-based or run on remote Linux or Unix host systems," he added.

No Session Configuration Tool

Apple's latest Tiger version of Mac OS X also includes an X11 X Windows utility. However, it lacks a session configuration tool that would give users the ability to set up sessions to a remote host.

"The Mac's X Windows utility was designed primarily to run X11-based applications locally on the Mac -- not for displaying remote X desktops or running powerful engineering applications from a remote mainframe," Swart explained. "X-Win32 adds the ability to enjoy all of the benefits of a best-of-breed PC X server on a Macintosh computer."