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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.420 COMMENTS: Very appealing for the educational market --- lets CS students and hobbyists tinker creatively with the guts of UNIX in a way that would be impossible under more conventional UNIXes. It's not clear who else will be interested in this. WHAT THE USERS SAY: Eric Baur <ecb@ventoux.assabet.com> writes: "The system is a very faithful emulation of BSD43 on top of Mach. For our purposes it is a super deal. For about $2000.00 in hardware and $995.00 in software we have a Mach development platform that integrates almost seamlessly into our network development environment. As a general-purpose UNIX (whatever that means) Mach386 gives up a lot in features to the System V vendors. (Virtual terminals, DOS emulation, etc etc) For the home hacker, it seems like it would be a good deal. You obviously could never run "shrink-wrapped" software, but most public domain and GNU stuff should port easily." Mark Holden <l00017@eeyore.stcloud.msus.edu> adds "Mt. Xinu's tech support is absolutely top-notch, and I've found them quite willing to deal with matters even after the official support runs out. [...] Not that Mach386 is without its quirks. I've had problems getting a Western Digital ethernet board to work correctly, and things required a fair bit of tweaking to set things on a smooth course, but then I've never worked with a BSD that didn't." REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS: Right now, this product is a solution looking for a problem --- a solution I find technically fascinating, to be sure. But even the company admits to not being sure who its market is. I wish 'em luck. KNOWN BUGS: Bugs reported in previous Guide issues with UUCP on bidirectional serial lines have been fixed. Eric Baur reports: "Fortunately, I got the micro-kernel add-on only as an example for Mach 3.0 development. It is not nearly as stable as the mach 2.5 based production kernel. Our 486/33 EISA machine usually hangs within minutes after booting the 3.0 kernel...Mt Xinu is completely up front about the limits of the 3.0 stuff and is very helpful about trying to debug it." V. UPCOMING PORTS, FREEWARE VERSIONS, AND CLONES. There are three other commercial SVr4 UNIX ports on the market for which I do not yet have detailed information. I hope to cover them in future issues. They are covered in section VI, along with freeware UNIXes and UNIX clones. PromoX UNIX: This is said to be a bare-bones port by an outfit that mainly sells hardware. The price quoted is $595 for a complete 2-user + devtools system. PromoX Systems 1050 East Duane Avenue, Suite B Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Tel: (408) 733-2966 Email: promox@cup.portal.com SORIX: This is a SVR4 UNIX port enhanced for real-time work, offered by Siemens AG. Siemens AG AUT 189 Gleiwitzerstr. 555 8500 Nuremberg 1 Tel: 0911/895-2203 I don't yet know if this version is going to be sold in the US. In the info I have, prices are quoted in Deutschmarks. NeXTSTEP 486: NeXT has a 486 port of the NeXT environment scheduled for beta release in 4th quarter '92. There are some freeware alternative UNIXes available for the 386/486. None of these are yet complete and mature hacking environments, but they show promise (and require much less in minimum hardware to run). They are: 386BSD: Under development by Bill & Lynne Jolitz & friends (this is the same 386BSD project described in Dr. Dobbs' Journal some time back). This OS is based on the NET/2 tape from Berkeley, strongly resembles the commercial BSD/386 release described above, and like it is distributed with full source. The aim is to produce a full POSIX-compliant freeware BSD UNIX. Version 0.1 is now out, including FP emulation, SCSI support, coexistence with DOS, and many more new features. Passwording has to be acquired separately due to US export regulations, but the system is otherwise fairly complete; I have seen it run. There's a lot of traffic in comp.unix.bsd about this project. Linux: This is a POSIX-emulating UNIX lookalike, being written from scratch and currently in beta. At the moment, it's less complete than 386BSD because it doesn't leverage as much pre-existing code, but the kernel and development tools are up and usable. Linux is changing so fast that more description would probably be more misleading than enlightening. There's an active linux group on USENET, comp.os.linux, and a (now less active) linux-activists mailing list; to subscribe, mail to "linux-activists-requests@niksula.hut.fi". Up-to-the minute info is also available by fingering torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi. Hurd: This is the long-awaited and semi-mythical GNU kernel. It's being worked on by the Free Software Foundation (the people who brought you emacs, gcc, gdb and the rest of the GNU tool suite) but it's not ready for prime time yet. It's said to be a set of processes layered over a Mach 3.0 kernel. The 386BSD and Linux developments both lean heavily on GNU tools. There is one other not-quite-freeware (cheapware?) product that deserves a mention: Minix: This is a roughly V7-compatible UNIX clone for Intel boxes, sold with source by Prentice-Hall for $169 (there's an associated book for a few bucks more). It's really designed to run in 16-bit mode on 8086 and 286 machines, though the UK's MINIX center offers a 32-bit kernel. UUCP and netnews clones are available as freeware but not supplied with the base system. A large international community is involved in improving Minix; see comp.os.minix on USENET for details. These freeware and "cheapware" products exert valuable pressure on the commercial vendors. Someday, they may even force AT&T to unlock source to stay competitive... Finally, there is a class of commercial UNIX clones that claim to emulate UNIX or improve on it without being derived from AT&T source. The major products of this kind for 80x86 machines seem to be Coherent, QNX and LynxOS. The following information about these has been supplied by various USENETters: COHERENT is a small-kernel UNIX-compatible multi-user, multi-tasking development O/S for $99.95 that uses less than 14Mb of disk space, runs on most 286-386-486 CPU systems, has a 64k limit C compiler and over 230 UNIX commands including text processing, program development, administrative and maintenance functions. It resides on a partition separate from DOS and can access the DOS file system with the DOS command. It has no network or Xwindows support, but cnews and rn have been ported and it has its own newsgroup, comp.os.coherent. It is fully documented with both a comprehensive 1200 page manual and an on-line manual. Mark Williams Company provides excellent support including a UUCP access BBS and has just announced Release 4.0, the 386 version of COHERENT. QNX is a POSIX-compliant microkernel OS with real-time capability, targeted to mission critical, performance sensitive applications like factory automation, process control, financial transaction processing, and instrumentation. They claim an installed base of over 200K systems worldwide. The microkernel is only 7K and implements a message-passing model; other pieces can loaded in at runtime, supporting anything from a small real-time executive up to a full multi-user time-sharing system (including transparent DOS emulation supporting Windows 3.1 in protected mode). QNX networking supports standard protocol suites, but uses very fast, lightweight protocols for QNX-to-QNX node communications; QNX machines on a network can be treated for most purposes as a single large multiprocessor, and the OS itself can be distributed across multiple nodes. Here is contact information for the vendor: Quantum Software Systems Quantum Software Systems 175 Terrence Matthews Cr. Westendstr.19 6000 Frankfurt Kanata, Ontario K2M 1W8 am main 1 Canada Germany voice: (613) 591-0931 x111 (voice) voice: 49 69 97546156 fax: (613) 591-3579 (fax) fax: 49 69 97546110 usenet: stuartr@qnx.com QNX support is offered via voice and FAX hotline and a BBS. There is also a newsletter and an annual international users' conference. LynxOS is a 386 UNIX specialized for real-time work, available from Lynx Real-Time Systems Inc. of Los Gatos, California. It includes TCP/IP, NFS, X, etc. Most of the development tools are GNU. The kernel is pre-emptable and supports threads and dynamically-loaded device drivers. VI. HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY TABLES These tables summarize vendor claims and user reports on which hardware will work with which port. To save space in the tables below, we use the following *one-letter* abbreviations for the OS ports: S SCO UNIX version 3.2v4 C Consensys UNIX Version 1.2 D Dell UNIX Issue 2.1 E ESIX System V Release 4.0.4 M Micro Station Technology SVr4 UNIX P Microport System V/4 version 4 U UHC Version 3.6 B BSD/386 (0.3 beta) X Mach386 A `c' indicates that the hardware is claimed to work in vendor literature. A `y' indicates that this has been verified by a user report. A `.' indicates that whether this combination works is unknown. An `n' indicates that the vendor advises that the combination won't work. A `*' points you at footnote info. A blank column indicates that I have received no vendor info on the hardware category in question. The following general caveats apply: * All ports support EGA, VGA, CGA and monochrome text displays. * All ports support generic ISA serial-port cards based on the 8250 or 16450 UART. According to the vendors, the asy drivers on Dell, Esix, Microport, BSD/386 and Mach386 support the extended FIFO on the NS16550AFN UART chip. Indeed, Dell tech support will tell you this feature was present in the base USL code. UHC says its 2.0 drivers *don't* talk to 16550s but says that will be fixed in March '92. A user reports that SCO has supported the 16550 since 3.2.2. * I have not bothered listing ordinary ST-506/IDE/RLL drives, though lists of them are given in vendor literature. This is a very mature commodity technology; anything you buy should work with one of the supported controllers unless it's defective. * Vendors' supported hardware lists are not models of clarity. Some iterms may be listed under a couple of different names because I don't know that they're actually the same beast. I have been very careful not to make assumptions where I am ignorant; thus, some hardware may appear less widely supported than it actually is. * These tables are grossly incomplete. Also, be aware that there is a fundamental design problem in the ISA architecture that can cause 8-bit boards used in a system with 16-bit boards to flake out even if they're actually compatible. Jeremy Chatfield of Dell describes it this way: "We've seen (and fixed) this with several card combinations. If you have an 8 bit card and a 16 bit card in the same address range, then the address decoding on the ISA bus will find that the 128KB range includes a 16 bit card. It therefore programs itself for 16 bit I/O. If you then do I/O with the 8 bit card, every other data byte is garbage. You will also have a reboot problem, because the 16 bit card usually starts in 8 bit mode and has to be switched to 16 bit mode. If the switch back to 8 bit mode is not made, and the address range is the c0000-d0000 range, close to the VGA BIOS, the VGA BIOS accesses are screwed, because they are performed in 16 bit mode because of the above PC H/W architectural problem. We include a deinit sequence in all the 16 bit device drivers that causes a shutdown to reset the accesses to the safer 8 bit mode. Of course, after a panic, the machine still has boards set up in 16 bit mode, so you might observe the problem then. This affects *all* PC OS's. I have seen cases where DOS failed to reboot because of the same nonsense (network card in 16 bit mode in same address region as VGA BIOS). Clever programming can resolve in several ways." All the SVr4 systems inherit support for a fairly wide range of hardware from the base USL code (version 4.0.3 or 4.0.4). This includes: * All PC disk controllers (ESDI, IDE, ST-506 in MFM and RLL formats). * The Adaptec 1542B SCSI adapter. Note: you'll have to jumper your SCSI devices to fixed IDs during installation on most of these. * Western Digital's 8013EBT Ethernet card, and its equivalents the WD8003 and WD8013. SVr4v4 adds the 3Com 3C503. * VGA adapters in 640x480 by 16 color mode. * "C" protocol serial mice like the Series 7 and Series 9 from Logitech and the PC-3 mouse from Mouse Systems (however, we've had one report of an ostensible PC-3 clone called the DFI200H not working). See the "HOT TIPS" section for details. SCO UNIXes from 3.2.2 up and ODT 1.1 also support all these devices. If you can fill in any of the gaps, or convert a `c' to `y', send me email. S C D E M P U B X Systems ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- c . c . Acer (all 386/486 models) . . . c ACCELL 486/33 ISA and 386/40 ISA . c . . ADDA AD-428P-25, Portable 486/25, 486/33, AD-328D-25 . c c . ALR Business VEISA 386/33-101 c . . . ALR (all 386 and 486 models) c . . . applicationDEC 316,316+,325,325C,333,425,433MP c . . . Apricot LS, LS 386SX, XEN-S 386 c . . y Arche 486, Master 486/33 . . c . AST (models not specified) . c c . AST Premium (models not specified) c . . . AST Premium 386,386/33,486/25T*E*,486/33T*E* c . c . AT&T 6386 machines . . c . Compaq (models not specified) c c c . Compaq DeskPro 386/33. c . . . Compaq DeskPro 486s/20,486/25/486/33L,386/20,386/25 c . . . Compaq Portable III 386, SystemPro c . . y Compaq SLT 386s/20 . . . y CompuAdd 320 c y y y y y y . CompuAdd Model 333 . . . y CompuAdd 320 c . . . DEC DS486, DECpc 433, DECpc 433T c . . . DECstation 320,325,425 c y . c . Dell 310,325,325P,333P,316SX,316LT,320SX,320LT. c y . c . Dell 433P,425E,433E,425TE,433TE,4xx[DS]E,486[DP]xx. . . . y DynaMicro 486/33 c . . . EasyData 386 model 333 c . . . Epson Equity 386/20PC,386/25,386SX; Epson PC AX3,AX3/25 . c c . Everex (models not specified) y . . . Everex 33,386/20,486,486/33 . c c . Gateway 2000 (models not specified) . . c y y Gateway 2000 (486/33 ISA) . . . y . Gateway 2000 486/25 c . . . Groupil Uniprocessor 25MHz Tower c . . . GRiDCase 1530,1550SX . . c c High Definition Systems 486/25 ISA and 386 SX/16 ISA . y . . High Definition Systems 386/40 ISA c . . . HP 486 Vectra series c . . . IBC 486 c . . . ITT 486 y . . . Micro Way Number Smasher 486/33 c . . . Mitac 386, MC3100E-02, S500 c . . . Mitsuba 386 c . . . Mitsubishi PC-386 . . . y MORSE PAT 386PX 386/40 . . . y MORSE KP 386T 386/33 c . . . NCR 316,316SX,3386 c . . . NEC 386/20,486/25, BusinessMate and PowerMate y . . . NEC 386/33 BusinessMate c . . . Noble 386 c . . . Nokia Alfaskop System 10 m52, m54/55 c . . . Northgate 33 . c c . Northgate 386/33 . y . . . Northgate 486/33 c . . . Olivetti 386/486 machines c . . . Olivetti XP-9 y . . . Packard-Bell 386x c . . . PC Craft PCC 2400 386 c . . . Phillips 386, P3464 486 . c c . Primax (models not specified) c . . . SNI 8800-50, 8810-50, PCD series c . . . Schneider 386 25-340, 386SX System 70 c . . . Siemens Data Systems Model WX200 c . . . Starstation . . . y Tandy 3000 c . . . Tandy 4000 y . . . Tatung Force 386x c . . . Tatung Force TCS-8000 386, TCS-8600 386 . c c . Tangent (models not specified) . y . . Tangent 386/25C . c y . Tangent 433E (486/33 EISA) . . . y Technology Advancement Group EISA 483/33 . c c . Televideo (models not specified) c . . . Televideo 386/25 c . . . Texas Instruments System 1300 . . . y Texas Instruments System 80486/33Mhz c . . . Toshiba T3100,T3200,T5100,T5200,T8500,T8600 . . . y TPE 486/33 & 486/50 . c c . Twinhead (models not specified) y . . . Twinhead 800 (486/33) . c c . Unisys (models not specified) c . . . Unisys PW2 Series 800/16,800/20,800/25 c . . . Victor 386 25, V486T c . . . Wang MX200, PC 380 c . . . Wyse 386 n . . . Wyse Decision 486/33 (intermittent crashes) c . . . Zenith 386 and 486 machines . . . y Zeos 486DX-50 S C D E M P U B X Motherboards ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- c . . AGI y . . . A.I.R. 486/33EL w 256K cache . c . ALR . c . AMAX c . c . AMI (model not specified) y c . AMI Enterprise II (33 & 50) y . . Amptron AMD386/40 . . y Amptron ISA 486DX/33 . c . ARC n . c . Cache Computer . c . Chips & Technologies chipset y . c . Chips & Technologies 33DX c c . Club AT . c . DataExport y . c . Dell . c n . DTK (model not specified) y . n . DTK 386/33 . . c EISA Tech 80386SX MHz y . . . Eteq 386 y n . . Eteq 486 . c . Free Technology (model not specified) . . . y Free Technology 486/33 EISA board y . . . Free Technology 486/50DX y y . . Gigabyte GA-486US 33MHz 256K Cache c . . y Intel 302 (386/25 + 387) . . y Intel 403E (486/33 EISA) . c . Microlab c y c y c Micronics 386/25 c c y c y Micronics 486/33 ISA y . . Micronics 486/33 EISA . c . Mitac . . . Modular Circuit Technology 386/SX 16Mhz y . . . Motherboard Factory 386/40, 486/33 (Northgate's OEM) . c . Mylex (model not specified) c c . Mylex MI-386/20 y y y y . Mylex MAE486/33 y y . . NICE 486DX/50 EISA y . c . OPTI 486 . c . Orchid . c . PC-craft y . . TMC Research Corporation PAT38PC 25/386,33/386 y . . TMC Research Corporation PAT38PX 33/386,40/386 Notes: * These two tables probably way *understate* the compatibility of most ports. Most ISA or EISA motherboards will work with all of them. However, Jeff Coffler <coffler@jeck.amherst.nh.us> reports: "I couldn't get the Cache Computer CPU board to work at all with Dell UNIX, even though they claimed they work with SCO. Flaky, timing-related failures." * Quote from Kolstad, "The external caches on the most advanced boards are usually not tested well for UNIX-like applications. We see problems occasionally that disappear when the caches are disabled. Once reproducible, the vendors can usually repair the problem." * A source at UHC describes the DTK boards as "dogshit" --- he says they generate a lot of spurious interrupts that DOS is too cretinous to be bothered by but which completely tank UNIX. He says DTK seems uninterested in fixing the problem. Other correspondents confirm that this has been going on for several years. Avoid these boards till further notice. * Dave Johnson <ddj@gradient.com> reports that since upgrading from a 386 to an Eteq 486, they've had lots of UHC random panics due to page faults in kernel mode. UHC is looking into this. * Some of the cards marked `supported' for SCO require the AGA EFS (Advanced Graphics Adapters Extended Feature Supplement). (EFS's may be downloaded for free via UUCP or FTP'd from uunet, but there is a media charge if they are ordered on physical media from SCO). S C D E M P U B X Video Cards Max Res ChipSet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . c y * . . Appian Rendition GRX 1024x768x256 TIGA34010 c . c y * . . Appian Rendition II, IIXE 1024x768x256 TIGA34010 c . c . . . . Appian Rendition III 1280x1024x256 TIGA34020 . . . c . . ARC V-16 (Paradise) ???? ???? . . . c c . AT&T VDC 600 (Paradise clone) SVGA ???? c . . . . . AST motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C31 c . . . AST VGA Plus 800x600x16 WDC c . y . c . c ATI Ultra 1024x768x256 Mach 8 c . y . c . c ATI Vantage 1024x768x256 Mach 8 c . c c n y ATI Wonder+ SVGA N Wonder c . . . . . ATI Wonder XL 1024x768x256 ???? . . . c c . ATI (type not specified) ???? ???? . . y . . . . Boca SuperVGA 1024x768 ET4000 c . . . . . Chips 451 800x600x16 N C&T451 c . . . . . Chips 452 1024x768x16 N C&T452 c . . . . . Compaq Advanced VGA 640x480x256 N ???? c . . . . . Compaq Plasma 640x400x2 N non-VGA c . . . . . Compaq LCD VGA 640x480x16 N ???? c . . . . . Compaq VGC 640x480x16 N ???? c . . . . . Compaq AG1024 1024x768x256 ???? c . . . . . Compaq QVision 1024x768x256 ???? . c . . . c Compuadd Hi-Rez card w/1meg 1024x768 ET4000 c . . . . . Cornerstone SinglePage 1008x768x2 ???? c . . . . . Cornerstone PC1280 1280x960x2 ???? c . . . . . Cornerstone DualPage 1600x1280x2 ???? c . . . . . Cornerstone DualPage 150 2048x1560x2 ???? c . . . . . DEC 433w 1280x1024x256 TMS34020 c . . . . . DEC motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C30 c . y . . . . Dell motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C31 . . y . . c . Dell VGA 1024x768 ???? . c y c c y c y Diamond SpeedStar 1024x768 ET4000 c . . . . c Diamond Stealth 1280x1024x16 S3 c c . . . c Eizo MD-B07, MD-B10, Extra/EM 1024x768 ET3000 . . . . . y ELSA WINNER 1280x1024 82C480 . . c . . . Everex ViewPoint VRAM SVGA+ ???? . . c . . . Everex ViewPoint True Color SVGA+ ???? . . c . . . Everex UltraGraphics II EV-236 1664x1200 mono c . c c c c Genoa 5300/5400 superVGA SVGA N ???? c c . c . c Genoa 6000, 6400 SVGA N ???? c . . . . . Grid 1500 laptop 640x400x2 CGA-like y . c c . . Hercules monographics display 720x348 mono c . . . . . HP UltraVGA 1280x1024x16 S3? c . . . . . IBM 8514/A 1024x768x256 8514/A c . y . . . . IBM VGA VGA VGA c . . . . . IBM XGA 1024x768x256 XGA c . . . . . IBM XGA-2 1024x768x256 XGA-2 c . . . . . Imagraph ITX 1280x1024x256 TMS34020 c . . . . . Intel motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C3x c . . . . . Matrox MWIN1280 1280x1024x256 N ???? c . . . . . Matrox PG-1281-CV 1024x768x256 ???? . . c . . . MaxLogic SVGA ???? . . . . c . . Microfield V-8 1280x1024 ???? c . . . . . Microfield I8 1024x768x256 ???? c . . . . . Miro Magic 1280x1024x256 N 82C48 . . . . * . . Mylex GXE (EISA) 1280x1024 TIGA34020 . . . . . y Nth Engine/150 1280x1024 82C480 c . . . . . Number Nine GXi 1280x1024x256 TMS34020 . . c . . . Oak Technology OTI-067 1024x768x256 ???? c . . . . . Oak Technologies Oak 077 1024x768x256 Oak 077 c . . . . . Olivetti EVC-1 (EISA) 1024x768x256 82c452 . c . . . c Optima Mega/1024 1024x768 ET4000 c . . . . . Orchid Designer SVGA ET3000 c . . . . c Orchid Fahrenheit 1280x1024x16 S3 c c y c c c Orchid ProDesigner 800x600 ET3000 c c y y y . y Orchid ProDesigner II/1024 1024x768 ET4000 . . * y . . Orchid ProDesigner IIs 1024x768 ET4000 c . . . . . y Paradise VGA Plus SVGA PVGA1A . c c c c c Paradise VGA Professional SVGA PVGA1A c c c . c . c Paradise VGA 1024 SVGA WD90C00 c . . . . . Paradise 8514/A SVGA+ ???? . . . . . y PixelWorksWhirlWin 1280x1024 82C480 c . . . . . QuadRAM QuadVGA SVGA ???? . . . c c . Qume Crystal 1024x768 T4000 c . . . . . Renaissance Rendition II 1024x768 TMS34020 y c y y c . c Sigma Legend 1024x768 ET4000 . . . c c . Sigma VGA/H ???? ???? c . c c c . STB EM-16 VGA, EM-16+ VGA SVGA ET3000 c . . . . . STB Extra-EM SVGA ET3000 . c c c . c STB PowerGraph w/1meg 1024x768 ET4000 . c . . . c Swan SVGA with VCO chip 1024x768 ET4000 c . c . . . Tecmar VGA AD SVGA ET3000 c . . . . . Toshiba Grid 1500 laptop 640x400x2 CGA-like . c . . . c TRICOM Mega/1024 1024x768 ET4000 c . . c . . Trident SuperVGA ???? T880 c . . . . c Trident TVGA 8900 1024x768 T8900 . . . c c . Tseng Labs VGA 1024x768 T4000 . . c . . . Vectrix VX1024 (TI-34010) 1024x768 ???? c . . . . . Verticom MX/AT 800x600 ???? c . c c c . Video7 FastWrite VGA 800x600 x2, x16 ???? c . . c c . Video7 VRAM VGA 800x600x16 Video7 c . . c c . Video7 VRAM II VGA SVGA Video7 c . . c c . Video7 VEGA EGA 640x380 Video7 c . . . . . Video7 VGA1024i SVGA Video7 c . y . . . . Zenith/Bull motherboard video 1024x768x256 WD90C31 In this table, an `SVGA' resolution code signifies the following resolutions: 1024x768 at 2 and 16 colors, 800x600 at 2, 16, 256 colors, and 640x480 at 2, 16, 256 colors. SVGA+ adds 1280x1024 at 2 or 16 colors. Some non-interlace boards are marked with N. Caveats in interpreting the above table: * All super-VGA cards will work at VGA resolutions and below (that is, resolu- tions up to 640x480 in 16 colors). * Because color is of secondary importance for most UNIX applications, I list only the highest dot-density resolution of a board that supports more than one. Some boards have lower resolutions with more colors. * This list is not exclusive. Many (perhaps even most) dotted combinations will work. UHC claims that any SVGA based on an ET3000, ET4000, Paradise or Genoa chip-set will fly; Dell echoes this with regard to ET3000, ET4000, WD90C0xx cards, and the same is probably true of all other vendors. * The Renaissance GRX-II is the same board as the Appian Rendition II; the company changed its name. The II/XE is compatible with the Rendition GRX and the Appian Rendition II, it differs in architecture in that it supports more DRAM and runs a little faster than the older cards. All Rendition II type cards run at a maximum resolution of 1024x768-256, the Renditon III runs at 1280x1024-256 with its full VRAM set. * Consensys's list is just MIT's list of cards certified to work with X11R5; Consensys is careful to note that they haven't tested all these themselves. * An ESIX reseller says all the TIGA34010-based video cards are pretty much alike and ESIX will drive any of them (the prudent user should probably ask to see the card working before committing). ESIX also supports 720x348 resolution on cheap Hercules-compatible monochrome tubes, and the Everex UltraGraphics display at 1664x1200 resolution. * Beware the Trident and Oak chipsets. Many clone vendors bundle these with their systems because they're cheap, but they break the Roell server and some other X implementations. Also, they appear to argue with the WD8003EP net card, and no re-arrangement of the jumpers seems to fix it. * Third party server technology from companies like MetroLink can support higher performance, higher resolution TIGA and proprietary technology. * Dell's 2.2 adds X11R5 servers for VGA 640x480, 800x600 and for the Tseng Labs ET4000 and WD90C11 in up to 1024x768 16 or 256 colour. Appian Rendition II (formerly Renaissance) for 1024x768 TIGA 34010. Highest performance from the ATI Ultra 1024x768 256 colour, and highest resolution from the 1280x1024 256 colour JAWS (Dell proprietary card developed in association with Lotus and MicroSoft) * The Orchid ProDesigner IIs (top speed 80 MHz, not the 75MHz version) works with both X386-1.2D and X386-1.2E (beta). It works ok with the ESIX 4.0.3 X11R4 stuff at any resolution under 1024x768. But the driver does *not* work with 1024x768 (timings are way off). The vanilla ProDesigner II does work correctly with both the X386 and the Esix X11's (R5 and R4, respectively). Note: this info may change in ESIX 4.0.4, which uses a different X.