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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!metro!metro!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.vader.org!news.demon.co.uk!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!leasion!leasion!not-for-mail From: mark@leasion.demon.co.uk (Mark Evans) 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 Apr 1996 22:50:14 GMT Organization: Electronic Services Lines: 33 Message-ID: <4lovj6$6k@leasion.demon.co.uk> References: <31785BB6.99F81FD@lambert.org> <stephenkDq62u3.7En@netcom.com> <31796B47.5E7DCA65@lambert.org> <stephenkDq791n.KuA@netcom.com> <317ABAFF.5F0DAAAA@lambert.org> <slrn4nlfam.2lm.root@marsgrp.tamu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: leasion.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: leasion.demon.co.uk X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950515BETA PL0] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.apps:14862 comp.os.linux.development.system:22290 comp.os.linux.x:30160 comp.os.linux.hardware:37205 comp.os.linux.setup:52077 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:837 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3507 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3358 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:18106 Ray Auchterlounie (rda@kythera.demon.co.uk) wrote: : : I have in front of me a mainstream PC magazine. On the front is a CD : with _Linux_ on it, inside some nice (X of course) screen shots in an : article entirely on Linux (it appears in other articles too). : That's the good news, now the bad: Inside the same magazine is a group : test of new P100s, *half* of which have guess which video card... : : So, joe user has his nice new machine and nice new magazine. Whatever : reason: he wants to try this Linux thing. : : So in goes the CD and on with the install... until he hits the Matrox : brick wall. With luck he will find in the documentation (or on usenet, : sigh) that due to Matrox policy he needs to *buy* an Xserver, or he : might never find this out and just give up there. : : So, now what ? To get anything like the nice screen shots in the mag : he needs to take his credit card shopping on the net and spend $50 - : $100 plus shipping (probably international) just to _evaluate_ Linux. : : [ Yes, he might download the XInside demo - to find it is client (and : time?) limited. This is fine _if_ you already know X and just want to : compare servers, it's useless if you want to "see what Linux can do".] : : More likely he'll head down to his local store and buy some nice new : Win95 software instead. And most likely still get stung. A certain computer maufacture is currently shipping a machine with a Maxtor Video card and Win95 installation programme pre-installed on the HD. Try using a Win95 OEM install disk on such a machine and the whole lot ends up in rather a mess.