Dual monitor possible?

[Liam Proven]

On 06/10/2007, Ashley Benton <meggalen at gmail.com> wrote:
> I would say the slot is long and pink, so apparently the manufacturer
> changed the color for fun. The computer is about from 2003 so I wouldn't say
> ISA and my BIOS settings were on PCI before I changed them to AGP so I would
> guess it is a PCI (never went in the BIOS settings before I installed Ubuntu
> about 2 months ago). I also went to check in the BIOS and the settings of
> the nvidia card last night but didn't see anything that would help. Maybe it
> is there but I don't see it, so I will try again tonight or tomorrow

Well, we know you can switch your  BIOS between onboard and PCI/AGP,
yes? Does the machine have multiple slots? If so, then chances are,
it's AGP+PCI. If most of the slots are white and one isn't, that'll be
the AGP one.

> As from the Matrox Parphelia driver I'm missing something and don't
> understand.

I was answering a question from someone else, who wanted /triple/ head.

> Yet I I saw the option of the Nvidia 6800 GT with dual output
> maybe interesting for later.

Yes indeed!

> I also have a stupid question from what I read
> you usually don't like ATI and prefer Nvidia because of the driver problems
> if I understood and I saw some reference for ATI card, why? Isn't it easier
> to use Nvidia and don't they have equivalent product?

As far as I know, nVidia do not offer any plain-old PCI graphics cards
any more. They stopped many many years ago. But ATI /do./ The Radeon
9200 and 7000 were available in PCI form many years after almost
everyone else gave up. So if someone wants /three/ screens on a
pre-PCIe computer, the options are:
[1] Matrox Parhelia - not good with Linux
[2] AGP 2-head card + PCI card

If you're going for option 2, then it's probably easier to have all
the cards from the same manufacturer, so they work with the same
driver. Since the only remotely recent PCI graphics cards are ATI,
then that means ATI main AGP graphics, too.

Otherwise, yes, I normally do recommend nVidia nowadays.

This may change soon. nVidia's Linux drivers are their own, closed,
proprietary code. This is a Bad Thing in Linux terms, but it was the
only choice.

But ATI - now owned by Intel rival processor company AMD - recently
released all the info for their rival cards. (AMD are getting badly
beaten up by Intel in processors and badly beaten up by nVidia in
graphics. They are flailing around for competitive advantage. This
could be a shrewd move.)

So, soon, there will be open, Free ATI drivers that can do all the
cool stuff nVidia's closed, proprietary ones can. When that happens,
suddenly, for Linux, everyone will start recommending and using ATI
graphics instead.

This is not a big market for graphics - at least, not yet - but on the
other hands, the   sort of people running Linux are knowledgeable
geeks, the sorts who end up running big technology companies or
running technology for big companies.

So long-term, getting these guys to know and love your product and
rate it over the competition is a Good Thing.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
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