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6. Video cards

Linux will work with all video cards in text mode, VGA cards not listed below probably will still work with mono VGA and/or standard VGA drivers.

If you're looking into buying a cheap video card to run X, keep in mind that accelerated cards (ATI Mach, ET4000/W32p, S3) are MUCH faster than unaccelerated or partially accelerated (Cirrus, WD) cards.

``32 bpp'' is actually 24 bit color aligned on 32 bit boundaries. It does NOT mean the cards are capable of 32 bit color, they still display 24 bit color (16,777,216 colors). 24 bit packed pixels modes are not supported in XFree86, so cards that can do 24 bit modes to get higher resolutions in other OS's are not able to do this in X using XFree86. These cards include Mach32, Cirrus 542x, S3 801/805/868/968, ET4000, and others.

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) support is growing fast. Most of the X-servers (both freely available and commercial versions) have more or less support for AGP.

6.1 Diamond video cards

Most currently available Diamond cards ARE supported by the current release of XFree86. Early Diamond cards may not be officially supported by XFree86, but there are ways of getting them to work. Diamond is now actively supporting the XFree86 Project.

6.2 SVGALIB (graphics for console)

6.3 XFree86 3.3.2

Accelerated

Unaccelerated

Monochrome

Alpha, Beta drivers

6.4 S.u.S.E. X-Server

S.u.S.E. is building a serie of X-servers based on the XFree-86 code. These X-servers support new video cards and are bug fixe releases for XFree86 X-servers. S.u.S.E is building these X-servers together with The XFree86 Project, Inc. These X-Servers will be in the next XFree86 version. These X-servers can be found at http://www.suse.de/index.html. At this moment S.u.S.E. X-Servers are available for the following video cards.

6.5 Commercial X servers

Commercial X servers provide support for cards not supported by XFree86, and might give better performances for cards that are supported by XFree86. In general they support many more cards than XFree86, so I'll onlys list cards that aren't supported by XFree86 here. Contact the vendors directly or check the Commercial HOWTO for more info.

Xi Graphics, Inc

Xi Graphics, Inc http://www.xig.com (formerly known as X Inside, Inc) is selling three X server products (cards supported are sorted by manufacturer):

Metro-X 4.3.0

Metro Link < sales@metrolink.com>

Supported Cards:


Graphics 		Card Chipset
ATI 3D RAGE 3D RAGE
ATI 3D RAGE II 3D RAGE II
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER PRO AGP 3D RAGE PRO
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER PRO PCI 3D RAGE PRO
ATI Graphics Pro Turbo Mach64
ATI Graphics Ultra Mach8
ATI Graphics Xpression Mach64
ATI Mach32 Mach32
ATI Mach64 Mach64
ATI VGA STEREO-F/X ATI 28800
ATI Winturbo PCI Mach64
ATI XPERT@Play 3D RAGE PRO
ATI XPERT@Play AGP 3D RAGE PRO
ATI XPERT@Work 3D RAGE PRO
ATI XPERT@Work AGP 3D RAGE PRO
Diamond Fire GL 1000Pro PERMEDIA 2
Diamond SpeedStar 24X Western Digital 90C31
Diamond SpeedStar Pro SE Cirrus 5430
Diamond Stealth 24 S3 801
Diamond Stealth 32 ET4000/W32p
Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 S3 ViRGE
Diamond Stealth 64 S3 964, Bt485KPJ135
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM S3 Trio64
Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM (SDAC) S3 864, S3 SDAC
Diamond Stealth 64 Graphics 2000 Series S3 864, S3 SDAC
Diamond Stealth 64 Graphics 2200 S3 Trio64
Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM S3 968, IBM RGB526CF22
Diamond Stealth 64 Video 3000 Series S3 968, TI 3026-175
Diamond Stealth 64 Video VRAM S3 968, TI 3026-175
Diamond Stealth Video (SDAC) S3 868, S3 SDAC
Diamond Stealth Video 2000 Series S3 868, S3 SDAC
Diamond Viper (110 MHz RAMDAC) P9000
Diamond Viper (135 MHz RAMDAC) P9000
ELSA GLoria Synergy PERMEDIA 2
ELSA Victory 3D S3 ViRGE
ELSA WINNER 2000 Office AGP PERMEDIA 2
ELSA Winner 1000 TRIO/V S3 Trio64V+
ELSA Winner 2000 AVI S3 968, TI 3026-175
ELSA Winner 2000 PRO/X-2, -4 S3 968, TI 3026-220
ELSA Winner 2000 PRO/X-8 S3 968, IBM RGB528CF25
EPS Apex L-200 C&T 65550
Generic ATI 28800
Generic Alliance ProMotion
Generic Ark 2000
Generic Avance Logic 22xx/23xx/24xx
Generic Chips & Technologies
Generic Cirrus 5420
Generic Cirrus 5422/5424
Generic Cirrus 5426/5428
Generic Cirrus 5429
Generic Cirrus 5430
Generic Cirrus 5434
Generic Cirrus 5436
Generic Cirrus 5446
Generic Cirrus 5462
Generic Cirrus 5462/5465
Generic Cirrus 5480
Generic Cirrus 62x5
Generic Cirrus 6410/6412/6420/6440
Generic Cirrus 754x
Generic ET3000
Generic ET4000/W32P
Generic ET4000AX
Generic ET6000
Generic Mach32
Generic Mach64
Generic Mach8
Generic P9000
Generic PERMEDIA 2
Generic S3 864/868/924/928/964
Generic S3 968
Generic S3 Trio64
Generic S3 Trio64V+
Generic S3 ViRGE
Generic S3 ViRGE/GX/DX
Generic SiS 86c201/86c202/86c205
Generic Trident TGUI9440
Generic Trident TGUI96xx
Generic Trident8900
Generic VGA
Generic Western Digital SVGA
Genoa Phantom 64 S3 Trio64V+
Genoa WindowsVGA 8500VL Cirrus 5426
Hercules Dynamite 128/Video ET6000
Hercules Dynamite 3D/GL PERMEDIA 2
Hercules Dynamite 3D/GL AGP PERMEDIA 2
Hercules Stingray Avance Logic 2301
Hercules Stingray 128/3D Alliance ProMotion AT3D
Hercules Stingray 64 Ark 2000
Hercules Terminator 3D S3 ViRGE/DX
IBM VGA
Matrox Marvel ET4000
Matrox Marvel II ET4000
Matrox Millennium MGA Storm
Matrox Millennium II AGP MGA 2164, TI 3026-250
Matrox Millennium II PCI (220 MHz) MGA 2164, TI 3026-220
Matrox Millennium II PCI (250 MHz) MGA 2164, TI 3026-250
Matrox Mystique MGA 1064
Matrox Mystique 220 MGA 1164
Number Nine GXE64 S3 864
Number Nine Imagine 128 Imagine 128
Number Nine Imagine 128 Series 2 Imagine 128 Series 2
Number Nine Motion 531 S3 868
Number Nine Motion 771 S3 968
Number Nine Revolution 3D Ticket to Ride
Number Nine Vision 330 S3 Trio64
Orchid Kelvin 64 Cirrus 5434
SPEA Mirage Video S3 Trio64V+
STB NITRO 3D S3 ViRGE/GX
STB/Symmetric GLyder MAX-2 PERMEDIA 2
Sigma Designs VGA Legend ET4000
Tech Source Raptor Imagine 128 Series 2
Trident 64-Bit Providia 9685
Trident 8900 Trident 8900
Trident 9440 TGUI9440-2
V PCI-53 Cirrus 5434

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