Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!paladin.american.edu!gatech!newsfeed.internetmci.com!howland.reston.ans.net!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!uknet!bhamcs!cca93013
From: cca93013@sun1.bham.ac.uk (RFW Pigott)
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: Sometimes you need X server source (Was: Why to not buy Matrox
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: 16 Apr 1996 13:12:35 GMT
Organization: The University of Birmingham, UK
Lines: 40
Message-ID: <4l06c3$6or@percy.cs.bham.ac.uk>
References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <ROELL.96Mar30135144@blah.xinside.com> <vwjk9zzy8w1.fsf@osfb.aber.ac.uk> <316320B0.B58DA79@netcom.com> <4k7c96$ida@news1.halcyon.com>
Reply-To: cca93013@sun1.bham.ac.uk
NNTP-Posting-Host: sun1.bham.ac.uk
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL0]
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:14663 comp.os.linux.development.system:21877 comp.os.linux.x:29833 comp.os.linux.hardware:36839 comp.os.linux.setup:51369 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:728 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3369 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3209 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17782
Tim Smith (tzs@coho.halcyon.com) wrote:
: Adam Megacz <kalessin@netcom.com> wrote:
: >> XF86 is the Beetle of x86 X11 packages, and sold at scrap prices (by
: >> weight of CDROM, basically :->); cheap and a bit rough. Your company is
: >> doing the BMW range of x86 X11 servers, and selling it at Polo
: >> prices.
: >
: >I really don't get it, though. What makes any commercial X server
: >bettern than XFree, other than the fact that they support more cards?
: A BMW is a lot faster than a Beetle.
Or so BMW would have you believe :) To be honest I put speed third on my
list of priorities :
1) Reliability.
2) Interoperability (will the thing work with what I have and what I
intend to get ?).
3) Speed.
4) Support (hopefully the sucker is reliable so support shouldn't
be a big issue).
Going back to the MATROX issue which kicked off this debate, their card
certainly fails on 1,2 (it doesn't work with XF86) and 4 (this thread
originated from people complaining about their support). Point 3 is
probably debatable, although someone suggested that MATROX's 3D
performance was poor.
As for the battle of the XServers, some people have reported problems
using XInside's server concerning fonts, garbage on the screen and
mysterious blue lines. These sound like fairly major problems, hopefully
they are fixed but I am surprised that the product was released in the
first place, it fails point 1. Furthermore some people are not happy
with the fact that they are unable to get a satisfactory patch so it
fails point 4.
Well that's $500 saved lets check out something different !
--
Rupert Pigott, impoverished student at Birmingham University
(email : cca93013@sun1.bham.ac.uk)