Video card questions


Subject: Video card questions
From: Michael Messano (messano@dicomed.com )
Date: Tue Aug 31 1999 - 10:43:39 MDT


Hello,
        I am still working on my Genesis, and I have a few questions
about supported video cards. As it stands right now, I have several
choices. The first card is an ATI Xclaim GA which works well, but
isn't really beefy enough for my tastes. The second is a Twin Turbo
128m, which also works, but not very well in anything except 8-bit,
which is inadequate. The third card is a Number Nine Imagine 128
Series 2. This one does not work as of yet, although Linux boots
fine and the console works. Except for the ugly green cast from the
monitor.
        My questions concern XFree86 support for the last two cards,
the Twin Turbo and The Number Nine. I checked around, and the
Faq-O-Matic led me to several pages about the Twin Turbo, but I was
unable to achieve very desirable results with the suggestions. Is
this being integrated better into the kernel? From what the web page
states, ixMicro is being a tad unhelpful on their end, and does this
mean some features will never be supported? Are there any short term
solutions to increase the resolution and bit-depth? XConfigurator
finds and identifies the card just fine when I uncheck "No video
driver" in BootX, but high bit depths have disconcerting visual
artifacts and some backgrounds are shaded in black making it unable
to select things. The Gnome Config. tool is a prime example of this.
Any suggestions?
        As far as the Number Nine card is concerned, I know there is
a driver for the i386 platform for sure, specifically the
XFree86-I128 package, and I was wondering about the availability of
something similiar for LinuxPPC/YellowDog. Would it be worth while
attempting to build from the source RPM, maybe from XFree86.org? Is
there a level of compatibility that would allow for that? Should I
attempt to compile from source? From what I have seen on Number
Nine's website, they are all for support on Linux in general, and
have a nice(small) section devoted to questions concerning their
cards under Linux, and it certainly seems that all are supported in
one form or another. This is the card I would like to stick with, if
I had a choice.
        Any help, comments, suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Michael J. Messano

"Call me a 'science fiction' writer, and I'll come to your house and
nail your pet's head to the table."
        -Harlan Ellison
                (expressing his feelings about the term "science fiction.)



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