Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 15:46:59 -0400 From: Randall Hopper <rhh@ct.picker.com> To: Stephane Legrand <stephane@e2c.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Video card for FreeBSD 2.2.1 - XFree 3.2 Message-ID: <19970419154659.28294@ct.picker.com> In-Reply-To: <v01510101af7bd4d9b252@[195.25.51.10]>; from Stephane Legrand on Thu, Apr 17, 1997 at 03:56:15PM %2B0200 References: <v01510101af7bd4d9b252@[195.25.51.10]>
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Stephane Legrand: |I have to choose a video card for FreeBSD 2.2.1. | |The following cards seems interesting : | | - STB Velocity 3D (S3 Virge/VX) | - STB LightSpeed 128 (ET 6000) | - ATI 3D Expression + PC2TV (Rage II) | - Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 (S3 Virge) | - Diamond Stealth 3D 3000 (S3 Virge/VX) | - Diamond Stealth Monster 3D | - Matrox Millenium | |It would be great if i could have 1024x768x24bits (at least 16 bits) :-) | |So, my questions are : | | - Which card works and is recommended with FreeBSD 2.2.1 - XFree 3.2 ? | - I saw there is a beta version called XFree 3.2A which seems have |a better support for some of those video cards. Can i just download the |server and replace the old one or is it necessary to get all the |distribution ? You probably want to surf http://www.XFree86.Org/3.2A and http://www.XFree86.Org/3.2 for the latest card support info. Also, Cc your request to multimedia@freebsd.org. The S3 Virge server for XFree 3.2A (latest version) is in beta and still being extended. I'm running an STB Velocity 3D now in 1024x768x16bpp w/ 1152x900 desktop. I know from another FreeBSDer that it'll run fine in 1600x1200 16bpp mode on his Velocity 4Meg, but my monitor limits me. Also, there's currently a small bug in the 16bpp support with some Virge/VX-based card mode configurations in modes using more than 2Meg that can cause text to refresh in the wrong color (which is why I'm not running with a 1600x1200 16bpp desktop in 1024x768 now). It doesn't lock the server; just a little annoying (Harald Koenig, one of the Virge driver writers, has recently been able to reproduce this problem though and is looking into it.) Based on my experience, I'd say if you're looking for solid support right now, the Virge support isn't quite there yet--hopefully it will be by 3.2B. You might also look at the S3 968 boards (Diamond Stealth64 2000/3000s, #9 Motion 771, etc.). I've heard a number of good reports by XFree users running 16/24 bpp on these cards. You'll find a number of them on the multimedia@freebsd.org list. I bought the STB recently because: full XFree support is expected, 220MHz RAMDAC standard (high refresh rates in high resolutions and color depths -- gonna get me a big monitor :-), 4Meg VRAM standard (bigger screens in 16/24bpp), you can't beat the price -- $179 for a 4Meg VRAM card!, fast 2D, didn't care about 3D (it has it, but I hear its relatively slow compared to other cards), YUV port (for on-card video scaling and color conversion--for my Wincast TV card), and I couldn't bring myself to by Diamond based on their tech support and MSWindoze driver quality record. MSWindoze driver quality is still pretty important to me. Hope this helps. Randall Hopper
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