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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!solaris.cc.vt.edu!not-for-mail From: erik@fenris.campus.vt.edu () Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Why to not buy Matrox Millennium Followup-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Date: 25 Mar 1996 10:20:34 GMT Organization: A random machine somewhere Lines: 25 Message-ID: <4j5s1j$22j@solaris.cc.vt.edu> References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <4j3muv$34m@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <3155FA66.167EB0E7@FreeBSD.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: fenris.campus.vt.edu NNTP-Posting-User: erik X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:13563 comp.os.linux.development.system:19872 comp.os.linux.x:27410 comp.os.linux.hardware:34110 comp.os.linux.setup:46793 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:269 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:2737 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2522 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:15866 Jordan K. Hubbard (jkh@FreeBSD.org) wrote: : > [general sentiments of "don't buy Matrox, they suck" elided] : I understand all the general gritching here about proprietary products : and companies like Matrox not providing the details that people like : XFree86 need to support the boards. I definitely would be the last to : suggest that Matrox be awarded the 1996 Manufacturer's Cooperation : award. The question is - Do we reverse engineer hardware drivers to make it work for us, so we can use our expensive computer equipment without paying more? The answer seems to be a general yes. Not whether or not to buy such a card -- this is assuming you have such a card and would like to see non-commercial support for it. I don't think Matrox or Diamond are bad companies. After they see that people want this information, they will eventually release it. Once there were several public programs that supported Diamond chipsets without Diamond's cooperation, Diamond started distributing information to developers. Maybe Matrox would do the same.