*BSD News Article 55776


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From: jdp@polstra.com (John Polstra)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: 24-bit graphics cards
Date: 24 Nov 1995 10:42:35 -0800
Organization: Polstra & Co., Seattle, WA
Lines: 31
Message-ID: <4953mr$s8j@austin.polstra.com>
References: <DIGEy9.3DA@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
NNTP-Posting-Host: austin.polstra.com

In article <DIGEy9.3DA@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>,
Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
> Can anyone recommend a PCI card to run 24-bit colour at ~1152x900
> using XFree86 and FreeBSD?

The S3-968 based cards are nice.  I'm using an STB 64V card with 4 MB of
VRAM.  If you buy the Accelerated-X server from X-Inside, you can get
1280x1024 24-bit color on a 4 MB card, with an 80 Hz refresh rate (if
your monitor can handle it).  That's because the server from X-Inside
supports true 24-bit color, rather than the 32-bit mode supported by
XFree86.  If you insist on using XFree86, then you should still be able
to get 1152x900 TrueColor on a 4 MB card.

If you're satisifed with 16-bit TrueColor, then you can get 1600x1200,
again with a 4 MB card, and again at 80 Hz.  XFree86 should be able
to support this, though I haven't tried it personally.

I've been using the X-Inside server for about three weeks, and so
far I'm completely satisfied with it.  It cost me under $100, and
was worth it, in my opinion.  Their web page is at <http://www.xinside.com/>.

Another option for the graphics card would be the Matrox Millenium.
These are reportedly quite a bit faster than the S3-968 cards.  But,
they are _not_ supported by XFree86.  So if you get one of these cards,
you'll be totally reliant on X-Inside.  To me, it was important to be
able to fall back on a free software solution if necessary.  That's why
I got the STB card instead of the Matrox.
-- 
   John Polstra                                       jdp@polstra.com
   John D. Polstra & Co., Inc.                Seattle, Washington USA
   "Self-knowledge is always bad news."                 -- John Barth