[ale] "Ultimate System"

[J. Reeves Hall]

> Video card(s).  So, what's the deal with dual cards..I do understand the
> Matrox G400 works under Metro-X, but can I put two cards (1 agp and 1 pci)
> in a Linux box??  The matrox doesn't really impress me as a "great" gaming
> card so I would like to get a voodoo or something similar for Quake and
> something more run of the mill --a S3 or whatever the "flavor of the month"
> is--for the second monitor.

The G400 is a dual-headed card (ie, it has two video outs on the back panel).
XFree86 does support the card, but I don't think it can use both outputs.
Metro-X and Xi can I believe. In any case, 2D graphics are extremely fast, and
further support is in development.

As for 3D gaming, the drivers are under development, but I can play Quake 3
pretty smoothly at 1024x768 with all options turned on. For some reason I get a
bunch of texture problems when I play on the 'net (not against bots, not on a
LAN, only on the Internet), but I'm pretty sure that's due to the development
drivers and the early version of Q3 (previous problems have been corrected by id
quickly).

I betatested Loki's port of Heretic II and had different problems (improper
lighting), but it was still very enjoyable. I also have a 3Dfx Voodoo1 in the box
(Quake3 works well with it, but the resolution and effects are limited). I can
switch between the cards by setting symlinks to the appropriate OpenGL versions.
Heretic II worked perfectly with the Voodoo1.

I think the G400 is a kickass card, but I don't think you can go wrong with the
Voodoo3. It's not multiheaded though.

-Reeves


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