"best" video board for 386/ix X11?

[Tom Yager]

In article <1989Nov16.190054.15473 at world.std.com>, madd at world.std.com (jim frost) writes:
> I'm looking for opinions on what the "best" video board for 386/ix X11
> might be.  I'm looking for fast color, 8 bits preferred, resolution
> should be close to 1024x1024, better resolution preferred.  Please
> give some idea of board and monitor costs.  If you have a monochrome
> card which you are particularly fond of, that would be interesting
> too.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any replies,
> 
> jim frost
> software tool & die
> madd at std.com

I think the best advice for anyone in your situation is, "wait." The best
board available now is Matrox's PG-1281, which does 1280x1024 in 256 colors.
It's a 34010-based card, with tons of custom silicon devoted to speeding up
line-drawing and text. It is a screamer, but the price (>$4000) is enough
to make you scream, too. A competent monitor will set you back another
$2000-$3500. This is the combination I use with 386/ix and, obviously, I
like it a lot.

The reason I suggest waiting is that the next release of ISC's X11 will
include generic support for 8514/A register-compatible adapters. These
can deliver 1024x768 in 256 colors, and can do an interlaced mode that
makes monitors much more affordable. Another system in my lab is running
an Orchid Pro Designer VGA that happens to have a 1024x768 interlaced mode
that syncs with 8514-compatible monitors. ISC's X11 supports this, and,
while I'm not a great fan of interlacing, it's really not half bad. It
helps to have a good monitor--the Seiko CM-1430 I'm using is terrific,
and they've got some new ones out that will surely be worth looking at.

Everything that follows is opinion, so if you're not interested, don't
trouble to read on.

Since generic 8514/A support is here, generic TIGA (TI's 340x0 standard)
can't be far away. In any case, expect that these two standards will duke
it out to the delight of us consumers: Prices should fall dramatically.
The under-$1000 intelligent graphics card is already here (8514/A cards
shown at Comdex), but I predict that the $700 price barrier will be
broken by mid-year, and that buyers will be able to choose between
340x0 and 8514/A based on more rational criteria than price.

Which do I like better? I'd like to be corrected if I'm wrong, but what
little I know of the 8514 leads me to believe that the 34010, which has
been out for some time now, is more advanced. There are at least two
boards that implement the entire X11 protocol ON THE BOARD, and that
could bust the market wide open. If this becomes a popular method,
vendors won't have to port X11 themselves. All they'd have to port is
the client libraries and the board-level interface. The toughest
part (and toughest part to get right), the server, wouldn't have to
be touched at all.

A company called AGE is offering a generic 34010-resident X11.3 server
to OEMs now (don't call them--they don't give any info to ordinary
mortals). I don't know anything about the cost or who will be supporting
it, but my hunch is that the Artist board from Control Systems will be
among the first in line.

I believe that the advent of affordable intelligent graphics controllers,
coupled with hardware-tuned X11 software, will eliminate the final
distinction between workstations and UNIX PCs.

(ty)

-- 
+--Tom Yager, Technical Editor, BYTE magazine------------------------------+
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