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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!u-psud.fr!zaphod.crihan.fr!warwick!str-ccsun!strath-cs!uknet!EU.net!uunet!newstf01.cr1.aol.com!search01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: dmndjeffo@aol.com (Dmnd JeffO) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: PCI bus cards (graphics and SCSI) which work? Date: 5 May 1994 21:38:03 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 64 Sender: news@search01.news.aol.com Message-ID: <2qc71r$h8h@search01.news.aol.com> References: <1994Mar31.010859.1419@selway.umt.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: search01.news.aol.com re: Diamond and XFree86 Diamond replies... It's interesting to see all of the views and opinions regarding the use of Diamond cards in the free UNIX environments. We have followed, listened, and discussed this topic with people electronically and verbally over the past couple years. Hopefully, the following text will help clear some of the rumors that exist and/or raise some questions that we have not answered that can be addressed. Diamond manufactures/has manufactured the following graphics cards with the following chipsets: SpeedStar VGA Tseng ET-4000 SpeedStar Plus Tseng ET-4000 SpeedStar Hi-Color Tseng ET-4000 SpeedStar 24 Tseng ET-4000 Stealth VRAM S3 911 / s3 924 SpeedStar 24X WD C31 Stealth 24 S3 801 (ISA) S3 805 (VLB) Stealth Pro S3 928 SpeedStar Pro Cirrus 5426 / 5428 Viper VLB/PCI Weitek P9000 Stealth 32 Tseng W32P Stealth 64 S3 964 Viper Pro Weitek P9100 SpeedStar 64 Cirrus 5434 During the development of graphics cards, many adapter vendors will take a manufacturing guideline and slap it onto a PCB with their name. Diamond takes the reference design and redesigns the product from scratch. As a part of this design cycle, Diamond has developed its own RAM DAC and frequency synthesizer (clock) designs. These designs take advantage of the ASIC technology each controller vendor creates. Since these proprietary technologies consist of an advantage, whether it be price, performance, size, or otherwise, they are held close as company property. For this reason, data related to programming the frequency synthesizer is released under a non-disclosure agreement. If competitors in the market produced and/or used publicly available parts that provided these technologies, it would serve no purpose for Diamond to hold this information proprietary and most likely the NDA requirement would be lifted. Diamond does not charge for the information in any fashion. Completion and adherance to the NDA is all that is required. Several UNIX vendors and customers (both commercial and freeware) are successfully using Diamond video adapters in SVGA resolutions and color depths. Diamond is not numb to the freeware Unix market. We have worked with developers and users on the issues of Diamond's support for freeware Unix and the reception has been mixed. We constantly revisit the technology currently held proprietary to determine if we still maintain a competitive advantage by doing so. At this time, it is still necessary. If this changes in the future, we will gladly make the necessary information available. Diamond has reviewed several supposed "copies" of our clock programming information and we recommend that it not be used. By incorrectly programming the clock, the card can be driven out of specification, potentially causing damage to the card, monitor, and/or system. We'll gladly hear any of your concerns in this matter. Feel free to drop us a line at the email address above (DMNDJEFFO@AOL.COM) or send us a FAX at (408) 730-5750 (Attn: Product Marketing).