Very Computer

Hello all,

I remember somebody saying the GXTxxxP adapters were Matrox-OEM-Cards.
Does anybody know which cards specifically, and will they run with AIX (e.g. 5L on
a 43P-100)?

Thanks,
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

GXT120P: Matrox Millenium I
GXT130P: Matrox Millenium II

Quote:> and will they run with AIX (e.g. 5L on a 43P-100)?

The GXT's? Of course they will... The Matrox Cards? Somehow. The only way to
get them working in an IBM machine is:

- install IBM AIX 4.3.2
- get the Matrox drivers from Bull/Motorola AIX 4.3.2
- install them on top of IBM AIX

Some problems and limitations, though:

- Because the drivers are 4.3.2 only, you will never be able to update this
  configuration to anything beyond 4.3.2. IBM Patches for X11 will _not_
  apply anymore and Bull hasn't released new patches for 4.3.2 for about
  2 years.
- Some IBM Machines won't accept the MGA Card as a primary graphics card
  because the Bootrom doesn't know how to handle it (The 40P for example
  can only use it as a secondary framebuffer).
- The Bull Drivers allow only 8 Bit Color Depth, even if your card has 8
  MB Ram.
- Combining IBM AIX with Bull- or Motorola Drivers is highly unsupported
  so don't blame IBM if something will be screwed up (it will, sooner or
  later -- trust me).

                Martin (Been there, done that).

--
BOFH excuse of the day:
  sticky bit has come loose

Hi Martin,

Quote:> > I remember somebody saying the GXTxxxP adapters were Matrox-OEM-Cards.
> > Does anybody know which cards specifically,

> GXT120P: Matrox Millenium I
> GXT130P: Matrox Millenium II

Correct.

Quote:> - Some IBM Machines won't accept the MGA Card as a primary graphics card
>   because the Bootrom doesn't know how to handle it (The 40P for example
>   can only use it as a secondary framebuffer).

Wow, I haven't known that. I will add this information to my docs. thanks
:-)

--
Registered Linux User #53315  - http://counter.li.org
Homepage: http://www.uuhome.de/df/
[Linux on IBM 40P RS/6000, Sport-Kites, Gerbils, Dogs from Spain]

No. I may correct myself here. The GXT130P is a Matrox G200 as I found out
recently.
Another PeeCee Card is the S15, it's a Diamond Viper PRO/SP which lacks
the VGA BIOS. The E15 seems to be some S3-Card but I'll have to verify
this as I didn't have a E15 yet.

Other PeeCee cards which work in at least some RS/6000s or Bull machines:

- NCR 53C825 PCI SCSI Controller. Both the Fast/Wide and the Ultra/Wide
  Controller
- Diehl ISDN-SCOM ISA and PCI Adapters
- 3Com 3C905-TX (B or C Revision will _not_ work)
- Digital 21064/21164 10/100 MBit PCI Ethernet. Only -AA Revision, clones
  will _not_ work.

Quote:>> - Some IBM Machines won't accept the MGA Card as a primary graphics card
>>   because the Bootrom doesn't know how to handle it (The 40P for example
>>   can only use it as a secondary framebuffer).

The 120/130 are known to work as a primary Framebuffer in the 43P-150 and
up, also in any 44P and in all PCI based Bull _without_ graphics hardware
onboard.

BTW: I got my hands on an IBM Firmware update for the 130... I'll try
to apply it to a generic MGA-G200 some day. Would be great if one could
buy a G200 for a few bucks and convert it to a genuine GXT130 ;-)

                Martin.

--
BOFH excuse of the day:
  permission denied

Hi Martin,

Quote:> No. I may correct myself here. The GXT130P is a Matrox G200 as I found out
> recently.

Okay.

Quote:> Another PeeCee Card is the S15, it's a Diamond Viper PRO/SP which lacks
> the VGA BIOS. The E15 seems to be some S3-Card but I'll have to verify
> this as I didn't have a E15 yet.

I have some S15 Cards and I also found E15-compatible Cards.

The  Miro 20SD PCI Rev B, which is using the S3 Vision 864 and a
S3 Ramdac (SDAC 86C716) works fine in a 40P & AIX 3.x  The Cards
is verified by AIX as a E15 Card.

Also the Miro 12SD Card, which is based on a Trio32 Chip, works, but I
haven't tested it with AIX, just the microcode was working fine with that
card.

Quote:> Other PeeCee cards which work in at least some RS/6000s or Bull machines:

> - NCR 53C825 PCI SCSI Controller. Both the Fast/Wide and the Ultra/Wide
>   Controller
> - Diehl ISDN-SCOM ISA and PCI Adapters
> - 3Com 3C905-TX (B or C Revision will _not_ work)
> - Digital 21064/21164 10/100 MBit PCI Ethernet. Only -AA Revision, clones
>   will _not_ work.

Wow. Interesting. Hopefully I can grab some cards from somewhere, to verify
that
with my machine. Thanks :-)

Quote:> BTW: I got my hands on an IBM Firmware update for the 130... I'll try
> to apply it to a generic MGA-G200 some day. Would be great if one could
> buy a G200 for a few bucks and convert it to a genuine GXT130 ;-)

Do you think it's needed to upgrade the Firmware on the matrox gfx card
first ?
My tested S3 cards just had there old x86 based firmware inside, so the
microcode of the 40P does the whole job.

Cheers,

Daniel
--
Registered Linux User #53315  - http://counter.li.org
Homepage: http://www.uuhome.de/df/
[Linux on IBM 40P RS/6000, Sport-Kites, Gerbils, Dogs from Spain]

                                                        ^^^^^^
should be a PRO/VP

Quote:> The  Miro 20SD PCI Rev B, which is using the S3 Vision 864 and a
> S3 Ramdac (SDAC 86C716) works fine in a 40P & AIX 3.x  The Cards
> is verified by AIX as a E15 Card.

So an E15 would be a Miro 20SD without a PeeCee VGA Bios... okay.
Seems logical, as some of the smaller numbered GXTs were rebadged MIRO's,
too.

Quote:> Also the Miro 12SD Card, which is based on a Trio32 Chip, works, but I
> haven't tested it with AIX, just the microcode was working fine with that
> card.

A generic S3 Trio32 or Trio 64 will not work. I have tested some no-name
Cards already.

Quote:>> Other PeeCee cards which work in at least some RS/6000s or Bull machines:

>> - NCR 53C825 PCI SCSI Controller. Both the Fast/Wide and the Ultra/Wide
>>   Controller
>> - Diehl ISDN-SCOM ISA and PCI Adapters
>> - 3Com 3C905-TX (B or C Revision will _not_ work)
>> - Digital 21064/21164 10/100 MBit PCI Ethernet. Only -AA Revision, clones
>>   will _not_ work.

> Wow. Interesting. Hopefully I can grab some cards from somewhere, to verify
> that with my machine. Thanks :-)

Tested them in the following machines with success:
Bull Estrella Series 200
Bull Estrella Series 300
IBM RS/6000-40P
IBM RS/6000-43P/100

Interestingly, the 3C905-TX and Digital Ethernet Cards didn't work in
a 43P-200.

Quote:>> BTW: I got my hands on an IBM Firmware update for the 130... I'll try
>> to apply it to a generic MGA-G200 some day. Would be great if one could
>> buy a G200 for a few bucks and convert it to a genuine GXT130 ;-)

> Do you think it's needed to upgrade the Firmware on the matrox gfx card
> first ?

Yes, it is. Though the PeeCee Matrox Cards will work with Drivers
supplied by Bull/Motorola, they will _not_ run with generic IBM AIX
Drivers.
Okay, one could install the Bull drivers on IBM AIX but that would mean
you're stuck with AIX 4.3.2 because Bull never released drivers for 4.3.3
or 5L.

                Martin.
--
BOFH excuse of the day:
  permission denied

Any chance of usinbg the S15 as a debug screen on a PC ? (It can always work
both ways)

Quote:> BTW: I got my hands on an IBM Firmware update for the 130... I'll try
> to apply it to a generic MGA-G200 some day. Would be great if one could
> buy a G200 for a few bucks and convert it to a genuine GXT130 ;-)

We eagerly away the success report.  I have a dual-headed machine at work (E20).
It would be fun to convert it to quad-headed. :-)

--
Doing AIX support was the most monty-pythonesque
activity available at the time.