Imagine 128 & Matrox Linux X.Org Display Drivers See Updates For The 2018 Holidays

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Imagine 128 & Matrox Linux X.Org Display Drivers See Updates For The 2018 Holidays

If you happen to have any Number Nine Imagine 128 or Matrox graphics cards sitting around, there are new Linux X.Org display driver updates out this weekend for these vintage parts...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Imagine-128-Matrox-Xorg-2018

[tildearrow]

Typo:

has just some compiler/build uodates but nothing

[moilami]

I remember when these Matrox card were argued to have superior image quality.

[ypnos]

Back then they were the definite reference for VGA output, the image quality you would obtain in high resolutions (like 1024x768 ) was a killer feature for professional work. Twenty years ago, it was a market where 3D was still an afterthought for most VGA vendors, including Matrox. But at the same time 3dfx paved the way, and ATI and nVidia took over.

[rene]

Back then they were the definite reference for VGA output, the image quality you would obtain in high resolutions (like 1024x768 ) was a killer feature for professional work. Twenty years ago, it was a market where 3D was still an afterthought for most VGA vendors, including Matrox. But at the same time 3dfx paved the way, and ATI and nVidia took over.

1600x1200 you mean ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDfldxVBn9I

[ypnos]

I don't really understand what you want to say with this video, he has a DVI connector. But what I wanted to say is that differences were noticable from XGA up..

[Adarion]

Hehehe, I already wondered if Kevin Brace was behind this. Yes! Unstoppable. I wouldn't expect any wonders from these cards, but they are still fairly okay if you just quickly need to get a screen on a box.
But as to his blog, the drivers aren't in great shape, so making them at least compile is probably an "emergency" solution, but I wouldn't bet he's got the time to fix all the code, unless he finds ways to unify stuff and recycle / share lots of code.

PS: On Matrox; yes they were known to have great VGA quality. As far as I know they're using some sort of ATI/AMD chips these days and live in a multihead nice and special requirements (medical screens maybe with advanced greyscale?).

[devius]

These articles always bring a smile to my face

I would love to get my hands on an Imagine 128. These were expensive when they were new and didn't sell all that much I imagine

[edwaleni]

I still have the Millenium PCI, Mystique PCI, & G550 PCI cards, but they are not in use.

You can still get Matrox Parhelia's in PCIe but they have always been costly.

Matrox was never in the gamer market, (or retail) they are more aligned to professional video use.

When OS'es went to use GUI's, that is when Matrox excelled and grew. I remember everyone wanted one because their Windows drivers were the most stable and the display quality was the best.

But when the arms race in graphics started between ATI and 3Dfx, Matrox intentionally did not invest in it. They OEM'ed the G Series silicon to fund their last discrete GPU (Parhelia) and when the gamer benchmark obsessed press poo pooed it, it began their market regression back to niche.