Stealth-32 and Linux ?

[Asad Khan]

Hi,

Is anyone running Linux (pref. Slackware 2.0) successfully in a system
with the Diamond Stealth 32 ?

The reason I ask is that it is my understanding that Diamond cards are
generally not supported in Linux because of their proprietary interface.
However, I wondered if this was so for the Stealth 32 which is based upon
the Tseng Labs ET4000/W32p.

Replies will be much appreciated,

Thanks,

Asad (as...@max.tiac.net)

[Mathewson Craig]

Here is something that two people wrote to me when I asked the same question.

First from cgsc...@psu.edu

It's not Linux that doesn't support Diamond, it's XFree86.

The biggest problem with the Diamond cards is programming the dot clock
to set different video modes. Diamond has asserted that their clock
chips are "proprietary", and refuse to give out any programming
information about them without a non-disclosure agreement. This
agreement would prevent open distribution of source code, so the XFree86
team has chosen to not support Diamond products rather than give up
open source code distribution.

It turns out that Diamond's clock chip is the same one used by #9 for
their video cards, so the code that #9 Corp. donated to XFree86 for
clock programming works on the Diamond S3 boards (most of the Stealths)
as well. That's how I'm using mine.

Nonetheless, I'd recommend you stay away from Diamond products. I got
my Stealth Pro before I was aware of all of this, and I wouldn't have
bought it had I known about their policy. I'd recommend you consider a
#9 board--I know they're a bit more expensive, but their support of the
XFree86 project has been superb, and the performance of their S3928
boards matches or exceeds Diamond's. ATI is good also; they've also
been supportive of the XFree86 team. Free software isn't like free
beer--we've got to support the companies that support free software if
we want to see more of it.

Enjoy XFree on whatever board you buy--it's the best X-server I've seen
on any platform. My 486DX-33 with the Stealth Pro even beat out brand
new RS-6k's and Iris Indigo 2 Extreme's on xstones.

Carl Schott

Welcome
Craig
cmat...@crim.ca

and

From har...@acsu.buffalo.edu

XFree86 version 2.0 included a generic for S3 cards, and you use it by
changing the symbolic link for a file "X" to XFREE86_S3 or something like
that. it's been a while since i used linux.

the stealth pro is a decent card, but for my main graphics need, microsloth
windows, the stealth pro's drivers have only recently matured to an
acceptable level. it gave me excellent performance using X, though.

glad to be of help,
alex

[Stefan Jordan]

Having recently bought a notebook computer I wonder if somebody can
answer me the question which Ethernet pocket adapters or PCMCIA cards
can be used under Linux without significant installing effort. I am
also interested in a SCSI adapter in order to use an external CD ROM drive.
The adapter should also be able to communicate with Linux. Since I have
only one parallel interface at least one of the components should use
one of the two PCMCIA slots (2 for type II, 1 for type III).