* Rog?rio Brito ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > On Aug 19 2001, Abner Gershon wrote: > > I am building a new computer (a first for me) and will be using an > > Abit KT7A motherboard with Athlon 1.3 Ghz cpu. > > Perhaps you'd like to see http://cr.yp.to/hardware/abit.html > before purchasing your new motherboard. > > Be careful that VIA chipsets are an almost necessary evil if > you go the AMD route: there are a lot of complaints of them in > the Linux Kernel Mailing list these past months. Now, Alan Cox > says that he discovered some "contacts" in VIA and that > they're willing to help support VIA products with Linux in. > > Of course, you could buy a motherboard with an AMD chipset > (like the 760 or the 760MP if you're into dual-processing), > but you'll have a bit more of problems getting them from your > local dealear than with a VIA board, since the AMD ones are > more expensive and produced in lesser quantities. > > Personally, I'm using an Asus A7V purchased in December of > 2000 with no problems. > > BTW, an advice: I have the impression (note that this is just > my *impression* and not a fact) that the Promise controller > embedded in my board is slighly better (and produces less > load) than the VIA IDE controller controlling the same hard > drive. > > To use the Promise controller (which supports UDMA 100), > you'll either have to use a patch from Andr? Hedrick > <www.linux-ide.org> or use a recent (2.4) kernel. > > > I would appreciate recommendations for a video card which could be > > auto detected or at least very easy to install for X window system. > > I must say that I think that this is one of the hardest parts > in understanding and purchasing for anybody that is outside > the "scene". > > It took me months to understand only the minimum of > specifications on sites like Tomshardware and Anandtech to > decide where to spend my hard earned bucks with something that > would work well with Linux (since that's the only operating > system that I use). > > I think that you should get either a Matrox G400 (or G450) or, > if you want better 3D performance and a bunch of other > high-end features, an ATI Radeon (there are some value models > of the ATI Radeon, but I don't know very much of their product > lines). > > Both Matrox and ATI are reasonably open source-friendly (with > some slight exceptions, mainly regarding TV Out) and these are > the manufacturers with which you should make business. ATI, > BTW, seems to be supporting many open source projects. > > Personally, I have a Matrox G400 and I'm satisfied with it, > but I don't play games and don't know if they are good for > those things. What I do care about is some good performance in > 2D and playing videos (DIVX, DVDs). Hi,
Did you by any chance get your G400 to play DVD or DIVX out of the secondary head to a TV? If you did I would be very much interested in hearing how you did that. Cheers, Alex.
