[rescue] WTB: Ultra 60/80

[Jonathan Sadler]

Well, after doing some digging around, it seems that the XVR-100 may 
just be the same as the MAC version of the Radeon 7000.  Witness:
  
http://web.archive.org/web/20040725051613/http://sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub/Devices/Graphics/GRAPH_XVR_100.html

(Had to use the wayback machine as it seems the information is no longer 
available on the public side of the SUN web site...)

I don't have any of the machines that it says are supported (just a 
U10), and I'm running NetBSD not Solaris...  I'll see if it works with 
OF, but testing with Solaris will require someone else to check it out 
-- anyone interested in doing it that (preferably) lives in the Chicago 
area?

Jonathan Sadler

Jonathan Sadler wrote:

> I've seen a number of PCI Radeon 7000s (as well as relabeled cards 
> based on the Radeon 7000 chipset) originally for the PC successfully 
> re-flashed with the MAC flash image.
>
> I'd be willing to try flashing one with a SUN rom image if someone 
> with the SUN card would be kind enough to capture the flash image.  
> Capturing the image requires a PC with an AGP video card and some 
> software that is readily available on the 'net.  Anyone interested in 
> providing the image for this "test", contact me off list.
>
> This may possibly be the cheapest way to put a video card into a SUN 
> -- Office Max is currently has these cards on clearance for US$ 39.95 
> with a US$ 20 rebate, making the final cost US$ 19.95 (plus applicable 
> taxes).  You can find them at your local store or at this URL:  (There 
> are shipping charges for US online orders under US$ 50.00)
> http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=no&prodBlockOID=537381619 
>
>
> Cheers,
> Jonathan Sadler
>
> On Mon, 9 May 2005 01:51:30 -0400, Charles Shannon Hendrix said:
>
>> On Fri, 06 May 2005 @ 22:16 -0500, Lionel Peterson said:
>>
>>>>> >Is there no hope of getting a fast PC graphics card working on a PCI
>>>>> >based Sun?
>>>>
>>>>     
>>>> Well, not sure, but my thoughts would be:
>>>>
>>>> PC card, no - need OpenBoot on the card - think Mac, not PC
>>>
>>>   
>>
>> I've heard of people with FLASH based cards burning Apple ROMs, but it
>> seems rare to have flash upgradable PCI cards.
>>
>> My graphics card (AGP) is flash upgradeable, and so were a couple of my
>> PCI SCSI cards, but I almost never see that feature on a PCI card.
>>  
>>
>>>> Fast card? Well, it would have to be PCI, and there aren't that many
>>>> PCI-based Mac cards to begin with, so it could be tough...
>>>
>>>   
>>
>> Hmmm... that's about what I thought.  I don't keep up with Sun video,
>> having been generally disappointed, but check around now and then to
>> see.
>>
>> I suppose then you have the driver issue to deal with.
>>
>> I thought maybe now that PCI Suns had been out awhile, some of the
>> faster PC cards would have encouraged someone to write drivers.
>>  
>>
>>>> Fast is a relative term, there are faster PCI cards that will work,
>>>> but they are rare and expensive (I suspect)... Why not add a dedicated
>>>> 100 Mb/sec Ethernet connection to a fast computer acting as an
>>>> XTerminal?
>>>
>>>   
>>
>> Two primary reasons: performance even on 100Mbit can be really bad for
>> some applications.
>>
>> The other problem is that an increasing amount of X code will not run
>> remotely, or runs very poorly.  Programs are starting to make more and
>> more use of local server only features.
>>
>> A lot of graphics APIs and X itself is moving to the Apple method of
>> accelerating graphics, by putting OpenGL underneath it all.
>>
>> Some of this stuff will not work remotely at all.  Even that which does,
>> often is quite hungry for bandwidth.
>>
>> I suppose we'll have to wait and see how it all works out.
>>  
>>
>