> graphics cards can be initialized without firmware.

Linux on PowerMac G5 Quad with PPC-flashed Radeon X1900 as primary graphics card and x86 ROM Radeon HD4650 as secondary graphics card:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp_IvG7h5_0

Thanks Andreas,
Asserting something and not providing proof is not that great an argument.
Cool example.
See folks? It can be done.
Keep in mind that there is a reason the X86 card is secondary, no output until the drivers are loaded.
Again, we would have no access to OpenFirmware unless an Apple card was installed as well.
But this could be done, giving us access to cards higher than the X1900 (although I just got back to using an R300 - I'm happy).

So...our current hardware is pretty damned powerful.
Any future hardware is likely to be more than adequate.
And there is a way to use the most modern GPUs.

Good times to be a MorphOS user.

Update:

> Linux on PowerMac G5 Quad with PPC-flashed Radeon X1900 as primary
> graphics card and x86 ROM Radeon HD4650 as secondary graphics card:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp_IvG7h5_0

Linux on PowerMac G5 Quad with PPC-flashed Radeon X1900 as primary graphics card and x86 ROM Radeon HD6570 as secondary graphics card:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYgFfRLYhLU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so35SrThHUs


Edit: added another video

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 27.04.2015 - 10:32 ]

> graphics cards can be initialized without firmware.

pega-1 wrote:

"you can already use standard PC-BIOS/AtomBIOS equipped R5xx range AGP cards with AGP G5 models and MorphOS 3.8"
https://morph.zone/modules/news/article_storyid_2215.html

:-D

I am glad Frank stated that publicly, as I was not sure if it was fair to repeat that.
Redrumloa PM'd me yesterday letting me know he had ordered a Radeon X1950Pro based AGP video card.
I have one ordered, but will probably receive it later than he will.

Still, compared to the X800XT, I only expect a modest performance boost.

The generally low prices on these cards is a real bonus.

[ Edited by Jim 21.05.2015 - 10:08 ]

How about a new wish list for 4.0?
PCIe G5 support, acceleration for the Radeon HD cards, and removing the need for Apple video card firmware so that we could use the HD cards on those G5s.
Sounds far out?
With developers like these, I could see this happening.

Quote:

Yup, I've got my fingers crossed it is delivered Saturday so I can try it out this weekend. Chances are it won't until after the holiday next week, but I'm holding on to hope! I want to benchmark it in my G5 2.5Ghz system!

@red
256 or 512MB ?

Would be interested in wether one could see&use the full 512MB and how much it would impact memory available to ABox (as you would go over 2GB addressed if all stayed the same).

Quote:

256M version. The only 512M cards I found were very expensive. While somewhat tempting, bragging rights alone isn't enough to pay the premium.

@red

40-50€ around here, not that super bad (well 256 seem to available for <20€ ...), and the added VMEM seems the only real benefit for me.

But even that ain't a biggie as I sofar had no problems with "just" 256MB.

Yep, the card I ordered is a 256 as well.
I didn't realize video card memory was being mapped into address space.
That is actually pretty cool.

Quote:

I did quite a bit of looking. $200 + shipping is the best I found in the US.

https://www.google.com/search?q=radeon+x1950+agp&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#tbm=shop&q=radeon+x1950+agp+512mb

On eBay I found one a bit cheaper in the UK, but with international shipping would have still cost ~$110.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sapphire-ATi-Radeon-X1950-PRO-512MB-GDDR3-AGP-8x-DUAL-DVI-HDTV-Graphics-Card-/131502606673?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3

I picked up a 256MB card for $40.50, including shipping. I just can't imagine anything on MorphOS needing 512MB VRAM, so I went the cheap route.

Well this is what I found:
x1950pro

40€ incl P&P but he does nit ship international.
There are atleast 3 more "buy now" under 50€ incl P&P, but none of them would chip to the US.

But the point is moot as I've been told that everything above 256MB will be ignored.

Quote:

Oh, that's good to know!

> How about a new wish list for 4.0?

Or 3.10? :-)

> PCIe G5 support, acceleration for the Radeon HD cards, and removing the need
> for Apple video card firmware so that we could use the HD cards on those G5s.

Isn't the last point (removing the need for Apple video card firmware) what already happened?

> Sounds far out?

Absolutely not, as this is already possible on Linux as has been proven.

Quote:

As far as I know, all supported systems that can handle the Radeon HD cards support X86 roms.
Frank's statement specifically mentions R500 cards, not the later cards.
So no, at this time I am not sure that a Radeon HD card would work in a PCIe G5.
It might seem that freeing us from the firmware requirement was a direct goal, as we have discussed this idea often enough.
But it was primarily the result of bigfoot's request for a card that would work in his existing G5.
Frank bought his own 1950XT.
And I think the 4650 cards were supplied by Acube (but I could be wrong).
At this point, they have REALLY pulled off some great work recently.
G5 support, SAM460 support, R400 and R500 drivers, and the Radeon HD drivers (which I have no doubt will improve Over time).

Now, if development of code outside Abox could start...
Even if quark is only 32 bit, we could run some tasks in the upper 2GB of the 4GB range that that addition 1 bit would give us.