Path: utzoo!attcan!lsuc!sq!lee
From: lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.i386
Subject: Re: "best" video board for 386/ix X11?
Message-ID: <1989Dec8.232550.13704@sq.sq.com>
Date: 8 Dec 89 23:25:50 GMT
References: <1989Nov16.190054.15473@world.std.com> <14@maxx.UUCP>
Reply-To: lee@sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin)
Organization: Unixsys (UK) Ltd
Lines: 35

Jim Frost (madd@world.std.com) 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.

We have tried a number of cards, including the Matrox, the Orchid and the
Microfield.  The Microfield T8 was the best of all of them, giving highest
resolution (1280x1024 I think -- I forget, sorry), and having the least
problems in terms of monitors, not conflicting with ethernet/SCSI/..., and
so on.  The price was not prohibitive, even in the UK -- I don't know what
the exact price is we're paying, but the end user price is under UK#12K,
and falls to about UK#8K in quantity, including the 25/33MHz 386, the
SCSI 10.7 ms 380 Meg disk, the monitor, card, ethernet, 8 Meg RAM etc.

So I would guess that you'd be looking at under UK#5,000, or about UK$4,000
for the graphics card plus the monitor.  (as usual, the prices are much
lower in the US).

It is important to remember that most of these graphics boards take up
of the order of 150Kbytes of the bottom Meg of RAM, so be careful about
ethernet (for example) conflicting.  The first safe address is usually at
about c4000, or C37XX, I forget.  (is that the right number of 0's?
It's been a while, sorry).

Hope this helps.  This is getting dangerously close to being "commercial",
so I won't give any more details, but I'd be happy to do so by mail.

Lee
-- 
Liam R. Quin, Unixsys (UK) Ltd [note: not an employee of "sq" - a visitor!]
lee@sq.com (Whilst visiting Canada from England, until Christmas)
 -- I think I'm going to come out at last...
 -- What?  Admit you're not a fundamentalist Jew?  They'll *crucify* you!  :-)