[rescue] Re: RS/6000 video adapter?

[Mike Katchabaw]

> > On Thu, May 23, 2002 at 02:19:21PM -0400, Mike Katchabaw wrote:
> > > I have an RS/6000 Powerstation 355 that I've rescued with an 8-bit
> > > 1280x1024 video adapter.  I was hoping to go up to a 24-bit board,
> > > perhaps with 3D acceleration, at little or no cost if at all possible.
> > > (Seeing how old this box is, and that I got it for nothing, I don't
> > > want to pay eBay prices for an adapter.)  It would have to be an MCA
> > > adapter supported by the 355 and by AIX 4.2.1.  If such a beast doesn't
> > > exist -- let me know so I can stop looking and guessing.  (I suppose
> > > if you do know, a model number or part number might be useful too.)
> > 
> > There is a very cool 3D adapter for that box.  And, every time I've seen 
> > one, it was available for free.  It is basically personal iris graphics on
> > MCA cards, licensed from SGI.  Extremely cool.
> > 
> > But, they are pretty rare.
> > 
> 
> And it is supported under 8bit color only. I used to have one and I could
> not make it run at 24bit under any modern AIX version.
> 

I had the chance once to get it for free too ... but after looking
into things, I found that it would not be supported at all on the
version of AIX I had.  I also thought that to get it to work really
sweet, you would need to tie up other slots in the machine for add-on
cards, daughterboards, co-processors, etc., etc., etc.  (Unless I am
confusing this with something else.)  Again, space in the machine is
at a premium.  (I am not willing to give up the sound card I scavenged
for this beastie!!!  It's quite funny to listen to streamed MP3s on
this baby through the internal speaker -- located on the keyboard,
of course!  That really freaks some people out!)

There has to be some other option for 24bit video though on these
things, right?  Does someone out there have a parts catalog that would
verify this or not?

Thanks again!

Mike.