Subject: Re: tga graphic cards
To: UUCP <>
From: Tobias Ernst <>
List: port-alpha
Date: 10/17/1999 09:08:36

 CGD> The question was not whether it can run with any single SVGA card in 
 CGD> a hi-res mode.  since DEC _sold_ s3-based cards, it most certainly 
 CGD> can.

 CGD> The question was whether it can run with any arbitrary card (e.g. a
 CGD> supported list at least as long as xf86's).  Last I saw, it 
 CGD> couldn't.

 CGD> has that changed?

No. And even for the "supported" cards, well ... our lab is equipped with 500au
workstations and "DEC Powerstorm" (AKA Elsa Gloria Synergy) boards. They
certainly run in highres mode (1280x1024x65536, 85 Hz) with an X-Server from
DEC (not anything like xf86), but man, that X server is bad. You can crash it
from user space easily (just use the latest Gimp versions with certain
features, for example), and sometimes it can even make the whole system crash
along with it (does not even respond to pings anymore). Given that this a
"supported" installation, I am really embarassed by this. Updating the driver
multiple times did not really help.

BTW, the same applies also for XFree86 on Linux. While you can certainly plug
any PCI VGA card into an Alpha wokrstation under Linux and use it in hihg-res
mode, this doesn't say anything about stability. I was using a Elsa Winner 2000
(S3 968) at first, and while the corresponding server runs flawlessly on an
Intel workstation with exactly that board, on my multia, the same version of
the driver with the same board kept getting more and more slow the longer you
worked with it and eventually the X server would crash, you could count on
that. I now use an ATI card; with that one, it is better, the server now "only"
crashes sometimes when I switch between console and X.

I think I will test Rolands accelerated TGA server as soon as I find the time
to do it. Seems to be the best solution for me.

Viele Gruesse,