From: dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com (David E. Wexelblat) Subject: Re: P9000 graphics chip on orchid card Date: 14 Jun 1993 01:02:40 GMT
[ Followups directed to comp.windows.x.i386unix, where they belong ]
In article <Jun07.162052.68469@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> tb512958@LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Ty Wesley Boyack) writes:
> I wouldn't be supprised if this was throughly discussed when these
> cards first emerged, but I missed it all.
>
> I am looking at getting a new graphics card, based on the Weitek
> p9000 chip. I understand that there are no drivers for it yet
> which will work under Xfree86 (or are there?), so the following
> questions came up:
>
> 1. When will one be available?
> 2. Until one becomes available, is it possible to use this
> card in a standard VGA mode (no special functions, just
> your good ol' 640x480x16) under Linux, or will it be
> totally unuseable?
>
> Any help is appreciated!
>
> P.S. I would also entertain suggestions for cards with at least
> 2mb of ram, true color support, fast refresh rates, and low prices!
> Yes, I do want it all, but then don't you?
>
> Thanks,
> -Ty!
> ty@lamar.colostate.edu
>
The P9000 chipset bears no correllation whatsoever to (S)VGA or 8514 (as
do almost every other chipset currently in use; Targa, TIGA, and Microfield
being relatively common exceptions of which I am aware). Hence it will be
quite a while before a driver supporting it is available, and you can't
even use it as a generic VGA card.
Hence don't buy one until it is supported.
Adding support for this chipset is going to be a LOT of work. Not overly
difficult, but a lot. Because it is so radically different. I hope, but
am not overly confident, that we will be able to support it in XFree86 2.1.
Since we don't even know when 2.0 will be out yet, I have no idea when that
will be.
I would expect that SGCS and MetroLink will have support a good 6 months
or more before we do. Not that this will help Linux folks, but it might
help others.