Cross Platform Gfx Card for X11?

pacx asks: "I'm looking for a good graphics card for use with X, that will work under FreeBSD, Linux, Sun Solaris, and possibly SCO UnixWare. I don't need any fancy 3D graphics, just something that will work well on all the above systems at 1280x1024x24bpp, and for a reasonable price (approx. $100-$150 CDN). Can anyone make any suggestions?"

hmm..

[Zurk]

try a decent modern trident SVGA card..most unixen support tridents since they were one of the few cards to come out first...although they may not go that high. alternatively try an old ATI Mach64..it does go to 1280 x 1024, 24bpp on my gateway. ive seen most OSen supporting em outta the box. Of course you can use any card that works with XFree is youre going to run XFree86 on those systems instead of the X server used by default.

Matrox

[cmaxx]

I've run my old Matrox Millennium under most of the OS's named. I do 1280x1024x16bpp because I couldn't afford an 8MB card at the time. Works a treat though, especially using Xfree under solaris (such a bonus compared to the BrokenWindows X server).

Any Matrox card 8MB or better in the Millennium lineage (Millennium, Millennium II, G100, G200, G400) should do the trick. Finding the price shouldn't be too hard either, and getting a more recent card has obvious attractions.

Matrox

[The Iconoclast]

Get a good-old Matrox Millenium or Millenium II (also some of the newer ones, although you should check out compatiblity first). They are well supported under nearly everything and damn fine cards.

A wealthy eccentric who marches to the beat of a different drum. But you may call me "Noodle Noggin."

Matrox cards...

[steelhawk]

I think that in general Matrox cards [matrox.com] are nice and generally robust...

And if the price is critical the older Matrox cards should by now be really cheap and it sounds like they might be adequate to your needs...

It may of course be hard to find any stores that still have those...

For example:
Matrox Mystique 220 does 1600x1200x24bpp
Matrox Millennium II does 1920x1080x24bpp

Even though these cards are old their 2D performance may be good enough...
But I guess you should check out the cards in action before you decide...

Yet again, Matrox

[jfunk]

I'm going to jump on the Matrox bandwagon (I would never buy anything else), but I do have something to add which hasn't been said yet.

My first Matrox card was a used Mystique 220. Out of warranty, etc.

Matrox gave me support for it, and responded to my email within 24 hours with a long descriptive answer.

That sold me.

As for software support, it's phenomenal, especially in Linux.

Re:Matrox

[GiMP]

I love matrox cards, infact my current
system is using an old 4meg 1064w Mystique
and a 2meg Matrox Millenium rev1. Hopefully,
my G400max will be here soon :)

Which brings another point, Matrox cards are
also the best for multiheading.

Matrox has served me well so far; the only
non-matrox cards I have are in my wearable,
laptop, and my voodoo2 (oh, aren't you jealous)

You can generally pickup an older Matrox card
from co-workers, yard sales, dumpsters
(Ive actually found tons of ps/2 keyboards in
dumpsters), computer shows, etc... $10-30 would
be a reasonable price.

If you have enough pci slots, I'd suggest
multihead too. Matrox cards work well together
multiheaded, and allow one non-matrox card in
the configuration PLUS a Voodoo2 (a voodoo2 is not
a vga card but Xfree86 3.9.x+ can use it as one)

S3 Virge or Matrox Millenium 2

[aaronl]

The S3 Virge chipsets are supported by just about everything out there. So is the Millenium II card. Both are rather nice, the Matrox definetely being the faster of them, but if you just need good 2d, the Virge cards are cheap. If you want really nice 2d, the Millenium II is a little more expensive, but also very well supported.

Re:Score 6!!!! - we have achieved excellence

[cybersquid]

Wow, this is great news! We can stop working on improving computer user interfaces.

Apparently, we have achieved a level of ease-of-use such that any idiot can post.