The real solution [LWN.net]

The real solution

Posted May 24, 2006 6:49 UTC (Wed) by Arker (guest, #14205)
In reply to: The real solution by eru
Parent article: Kororaa and the GPL - Update 1

Keep in mind that, although Matrox is no longer actively being good, their support in the past has resulted in quality free drivers available for several of their chipsets, up to the G550 which is a pretty capable card.

On a side note, every time I've attempted to enter a reply on the kororaa blog it eats the comment:

Whoops! Comment not saved. I ran into a problem while saving your comment. Server Reported:

Anyone else?

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The real solution

Posted May 24, 2006 19:43 UTC (Wed) by k8to (subscriber, #15413) [Link]

As for the G550, which I use, there are some issues.

It's incapable of driving a not terribly atypical 1600x1200 monitor via
DVI (I guess this is a lack of dual link issue?), which wasn't a big deal
when it was released, but isn't so great now.

Without the MGA_HAL proprietary driver module -- which is not compatible
with modern X.org -- the results for some DVI behavior and some multihead
behavior, especially when switching resolutions is a bit.. touchy. It's
quite possible to wander off into corrupt display territory. It's gotten
a _little_ better with X.Org 6.9 (Debian testing doesn't thread the
bleeding edge), but the driver is relatively ignored.

The DVI problems aren't the worst problem because the analog signal
generated by matrox cards is top notch. It's almost as crisp over D-SUB
as DVI, but it's annoying to watch my monitor "sync" up and sometimes
even get the display settings totally wrong, when on DVI it is instant
and always correct.

The DRI driver works, but the implementation is aging in terms of
flexibility (texture sizes, etc), let alone performance. Some programs
will not execute, while others are simply low performant.

I see no evidence of people working on EXA/Composite and such for the
Matrox cards.

On the plus side, the cards are fanless with a modest heatsink, and not
too pricey. Just be sure not to get the 650, which is a completely
unrelated chipset, more or less a stripped down parhelia series card,
which have linux drivers but they're closed, and poor.