Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Quick question...

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
  • #1

    Quick question...

    Ok.. this is the sort of question that I normally wouldn't ask... and wouldn't ask if I was a newb or really had time to find the answers out myself... however, since internet access is a pain in the arse for me at the moment, I will ask it anyways...

    How stable are the Linux Parhelia drivers? what features do they support? worth using or would something else be better?

    Unfortunately the Linux drivers for the Parhelia were rather shitty the last time I looked into it, so I am curious how much they have advanced. And while I was happy with my 9600 Pro, I am probably going to invest in not only a new system but also a few LCD's when I get home, and 2x DVI would be uber sexy. Just curious if the Parhelia would fit the bill (yet again) or if I should just go with the normal Analog connections...

    anywho, thanks...

    -L
    "And yet, after spending 20+ years trying to evolve the user interface into something better, what's the most powerful improvement Apple was able to make? They finally put a god damned shell back in." -jwz
    Tags: None
  • #2
    The current 1.1.0 beta driver supports the following "special" features:

    DualHead with either DVI and Analog, DVI and DVI or Analog and Analog
    TripleHead with either DVI, Analog and Analog, or 3 Analog.
    TV-out when in SingleHead for clone output to a TV.
    Xvideo in Single-, Dual- and TripleHead
    DPMS

    The PRO driver supports the following in addition to the above:

    OpenGL 1.3 on single processor systems.

    Unofficially, both the drivers supports TripleHead in independant mode, which enables the use of Xinerama in both Dual- and TripleHead. It is undocumented though.

    As for my personal experiences; I wouldn't recommend this card to anyone running Linux. It still displays the occasional graphic glitches, and doesn't handle user defined mouse pointers as hardware cursors, which is a nightmare if you're working with moving pictures.

    I'd say that you should go for an ATI or nVidia, they offer vastly superior Linux support. Also keep in mind that the driver s licensed under Matrox own license and is not allowed to be distributed. This has the unfortunate effect that Linux distributers such as Red Hat, Mandrake and Debian, etc. can't bundle the driver with their distributions.
    Last edited by albatorsk; 19 January 2004, 10:10.

    Comment

    • #3
      Albatorsk - does the Linux driver not let you do triplehead as DVI+DVI+Analog? And what's this "PRO" driver - does it sacrifice some functionality for the 3D, or do you have to do something to qualify for it?

      DGhost - If you really want to do the dual-DVI thing, you might want to look at the ATi FireGL cards. I think the Z1 (9500 non-pro-based) runs a fair bit cheaper than a Parhelia, and there are a few other models. Now to take this conversation not just off-topic but off-forum, does anyone know if the Catalyst drivers work on FireGL cards?
      Blah blah blah nick blah blah confusion, blah blah blah blah frog.

      Comment

      • #4
        Originally posted by Ribbit
        Albatorsk - does the Linux driver not let you do triplehead as DVI+DVI+Analog?
        Since there aren't enough connectors on the card itself, it would be pointless if the driver supported it Remember, the card has 2 DVI connectors, and to connect 3 monitors you have to connect a Y-cable to the second head (and that cable has 2 normal HD-15 connectors).

        And what's this "PRO" driver - does it sacrifice some functionality for the 3D, or do you have to do something to qualify for it?
        No, no functionality is sacrificed in favor of 3D support. But in addition to registering with Matrox to download their Linux drivers, you have to send a request to their CAD-team and wait for a member of that team to respond with a mail telling you where do download the PRO driver.

        Comment

        • #5
          albatorsk - thanks for the input. I am rather disappointed in Matrox's choices for how they distribute their drivers. They used to be really, really good. Oh well. How well does the OpenGL support work? Is it a fairly optimized implementation, good compliance, etc etc?

          As far as going ATI or NVidia - I know that they both offer Linux drivers that are supposed to be really, really good. Unfortunately, it is hard to find cards (at a reasonable price) that support dual DVI. And, well, I was not planning on spending money on a graphics card this time around. There is nothing preventing me from doing that at a later date though. But... Since I have both an ATI 9600 Pro and a Parhelia 128M sitting at home, I didn't really want to get yet another video card.

          Personally I do not use Linux much. And I probably will not use it much. However, I do want to have access to a *NIX workstation that I can use to screw around with.

          Anywho... thanks for the comments... anything else you can think of off hand?
          "And yet, after spending 20+ years trying to evolve the user interface into something better, what's the most powerful improvement Apple was able to make? They finally put a god damned shell back in." -jwz

          Comment

          • #6
            Originally posted by DGhost
            albatorsk - thanks for the input. I am rather disappointed in Matrox's choices for how they distribute their drivers. They used to be really, really good. Oh well. How well does the OpenGL support work? Is it a fairly optimized implementation, good compliance, etc etc?
            Unfortunately, I haven't been able to try out the OpenGL implementation since it completely locks up dual processor machines. If I turn off one processor, it will probably work, but I'm not going to sacrifice half of my machines performance just for OpenGL support

            As far as going ATI or NVidia - I know that they both offer Linux drivers that are supposed to be really, really good. Unfortunately, it is hard to find cards (at a reasonable price) that support dual DVI. And, well, I was not planning on spending money on a graphics card this time around. There is nothing preventing me from doing that at a later date though. But... Since I have both an ATI 9600 Pro and a Parhelia 128M sitting at home, I didn't really want to get yet another video card.
            Well, if you have some free space on a harddisk you could try a small Linux installation just to see what the driver's like. Maybe it's good enough for what you had in mind.

            It's not for me, but then again I bought this card thinking that it would be a "professional quality" card, which it has turned out not to be

            Thanks for the comments... anything else you can think of off hand?
            No, not really. That about covers it

            Comment

            • #7
              Just out of curiousity, what do you mean by working with moving pictures? As far as running DVD's and mpg's and such, I've had NO problems with running the non-hardware cursor. I currently run my Gnome 2.4 desktop with three monitors and xinerama and it's pretty sweet. If you have it in independant mode, GL programs will full screen to one screen, leaving one screen readable, and for most programs, the third screen becomes a mess.... I don't think it did this in KDE 3.2 beta... but can't recall right for sure.

              If you have a single CPU computer system, and would like just dual or triple head, I'd recommend it. I love my triple-head set up

              I haven't seen any graphical glitches at all, unless I enable the NoLogo option, then there is a quick one right when X boots into GDM. And of course the custom cursors when you have hardware cursor enabled. Other than that I haven't seen any.

              The other issue I've had is occasionally the GL stops working. I haven't figured this one out yet, and of course when I asked on Matrox's Tech Support forum, they simply said that Triple-Head independant mode isn't officially supported.

              Oh and if you take a look in the Tech forums over there, you'll find that "Prez" has created a patch to get the driver working under Linux kernel 2.6.x as well. If you already have the parhelia, I would go a head and install a small partition, as previously suggested, and see how the driver performs for you.

              Also, Ben over at the forums said that gigacolor is supported as well, you have to change your color depth to 30. Though I tried that and X wouldn't load, so I gave up...... maybe I'll give it a go later on.

              Right now I have three XF86Config-4 files, depending on what I'm doing... If I want to play a game, usually I'll just copy the .single one over and logout then back in.. For general desktop use, I use the THI (Triple-Head Independant) because Vmware won't work in 32bit color mode under triple-head stretched mode. (not sure why) Of course surround gaming works under the TH stretched as well (at least it did with Neverwinter Nights) But I couldn't change the resolution on the fly. It was stuck at 3840x1024, which suprisingly was still very playable.

              Leech
              Wah! Wah!

              In a perfect world... spammers would get caught, go to jail, and share a cell with many men who have enlarged their penises, taken Viagra and are looking for a new relationship.

              Comment

              • #8
                Originally posted by leech
                Just out of curiousity, what do you mean by working with moving pictures? As far as running DVD's and mpg's and such, I've had NO problems with running the non-hardware cursor.
                My cursor flickers badly (so bad it's hard to keep track of where it is sometimes) when I move it over a "backdrop" that's moving.

                I haven't seen any graphical glitches at all, unless I enable the NoLogo option, then there is a quick one right when X boots into GDM. And of course the custom cursors when you have hardware cursor enabled. Other than that I haven't seen any.
                I haven't seen any glitches either, other than the occational graphics corruption here and there

                Comment

                • #9
                  Hrmm... It sounds alright, I suppose...

                  How is GL performance on the second monitor? I remember the windows drivers had a huge performance hit for 3d on the second head... curious if that is there in linux too...

                  I think I will probably try it... If i do not like it I will just buy a FireGL 9700... heh...

                  Thanks...
                  "And yet, after spending 20+ years trying to evolve the user interface into something better, what's the most powerful improvement Apple was able to make? They finally put a god damned shell back in." -jwz

                  Comment

                  Previous template Next
                  Working...
                  X