DCE COMPUTER NEWS

24.10.2000
Eyetech signs up for VooDoo Card Driver licence from DCE

Eyetech Group Ltd of the UK has become the first company to sublicence this driver technology from DCE for use in their shortly-to-be-released Predator PCI/AGP expansion bus boards for the A1200 and A4000. Alan Redhouse, Managing Director of Eyetech said "I am delighted that we have been able to come to this arrangement with DCE, and via them with VFD to bring the unrestricted capability of VFD's VooDoo drivers to our Predator range of Amiga PCI/AGP/G3/G4 expansion boards. Moreover by sharing the cost of the core routines with DCE - and possibly other manufacturers still to be named - we have come significantly below the allocated budget for the PCI graphics drivers thus enabling us to give even better value to purchasers of the G-Rex or Predator expansion bus."
 
This new announcement follows on from last weeks news that DCE Computer Service of Oberhausen, Germany has entered into a master contract with VFD for the continued development and distribution of Cybergraphics VooDoo graphics card drivers for the Amiga.
 
Frank Mariak, Managing Director of VFD, commented: "We have always had a close working relationship with DCE, writing and maintaining the drivers shipped with their (formerly phase 5's) CyberVision 64-3D, CyberVisionPPC and BVision graphics cards. Last weeks agreement - although widely misunderstood on the mailing lists - was to ensure that the extensive development work necessary to provide Voodoo graphics card drivers for DCE's G-Rex board was properly funded. It was never envisaged that this family of drivers would be be restricted to just the G-Rex product line, and this new agreement with Eyetech for porting them to the Predator family is proof of that strategy."
 
Thomas Dellert of DCE added "We have had a long standing business relationship with Eyetech, and although we compete with them on certain of our products - including certain models of their Predator and our G-Rex expansion boards - I am pleased that we have been able to strike a deal with the VooDoo driver software which will be beneficial to both G-Rex and Predator customers. Of course the work involved needs to be paid for - and hence licences must be bought, not given away. However the G-Rex and Predator busboards are by no means the only ones for which the VooDoo driver technology is relevant, and we are willing to discuss licencing terms with any other manufacturers who might be interested."
 
For further information contact:
 
Alan M Redhouse
Managing Director
Eyetech Group Ltd
The Old Bank
12 West Green
Stokesley, North Yorkshire
TS9 5BB  UK
 
Phonel +44 164 271 3185
Fax    +44 164 271 3634
email  info@eyetech.co.uk

 

13.10.2000
DCE erhält exklusive Voodoo CGX Treiberrechte

Vision Factory Development (VFD) und DCE Computer Service haben heute einen Exklusiv-Vertrag über die Nutzungsrechte der "CGX Voodoo"-Treiber abgeschlossen. 
Damit wird die schnelle Verfügbarkeit und die optimale Unterstützung, d.h. auch damit verbundene Supportleistungen durch VFD, für die leistungsfähigen Voodoo Grafikkarten für alle PPC Beschleuniger der Blizzard- bzw. CyberStorm Baureihe gesichert.
Angesichts zu erwartender Schwierigkeiten von PPC 3D Treibern im Zusammenhang mit Mediator und den aktuell erhältlichen PPC Beschleunigerkarten im Dual-Prozessorbetrieb (68K 2D Treiber), hat sich VFD dazu entschlossen, die aktuellen Alpha Voodoo Treiber nicht mehr weiterzuentwickeln und ausschließlich für das G-REX PCI Board zur Verfügung zu stellen, weil damit deren Funktionalität bereits erfolgreich getestet werden konnte.
Da die Voodoo3 Karten im wesentlichen für einen neuen Leistungsschub bei aktuellen PPC Spielumsetzungen sorgen sollen, die 100% Betriebssicherheit seitens CyberGraphX aufgrund technischer Hardwarelimitierungen beim Mediator nicht garantiert werden kann, hat sich VFD im Sinne der Kundenzufriedenheit zu diesem Schritt entschlossen.
Wir möchten darauf hinweisen, daß u.U. mit dem Mediator mitgelieferte CGX Voodoo Treiber Alpha Versionen sind und in keiner Weise durch VFD authorisiert bzw. lizensiert sind. Der aktuelle S3 ViRGE Treiber ist davon allerdings nicht betroffen.
DCE und VFD haben außerdem die Zusammenarbeit bei der Entwicklung von zusätzlichen Treibern für z.B. Netzwerkkarten bzw. Soundkarten für das G-REX PCI Board vereinbart.

DCE gets exclusive rights to publish Voodoo CGX drivers

Today, Vision Factory Development (VFD) and DCE Computer Service signed an exclusive contract about the use of current "CGX Voodoo"-Drivers.
This contract guarantees the immediate availability and the best support a user can get for the current range of powerful voodoo graphics boards in conjunction with all currently available ppc accelerators of the Blizzard- and CyberStorm series.
With the expected problems of PPC 3D drivers in conjunction with Mediator PCI and the currently available PPC accelerators in Dual-CPU mode (68K 2D driver) in mind, VFD decided to drop the further development of the actual Alpha Voodoo drivers for Mediator and concentrates on development for the G-REX PCI board because drivers were succesfully tested already.
Voodoo3 cards should give you a significant performance boost for the current range of PPC accelerated games, flawless working of the CyberGraphX driver can't be guaranteed due to technical hardware limitations of Mediator PCI though, so VFD decided to go that way.
As a final note, CGX Voodoo driver alpha versions that are probably develivered with the Mediator hardware are in no way authorized or licensed by VFD. Current S3 ViRGE drivers are not affected by this agreement.
DCE and VFD also decided to work together on additional drivers regarding both networking and sound in conjunction with G-REX PCI.