Conference mvblab::alphaserver_4100

    Hi there,
    
      I doubt if Windows NT supports multihead graphics. Another point is
    that the MATROX board is not in the supported options list for AS4100.
    If the customer has the proper Alpha drivers for the video card, they
    might want to give it a shot. Again we do not support those graphics 
    controllers. You might want to look at the DECpowerStorm (aka TGA2) 
    graphic cards.
    
    /Frank 

    Bzzzt! Wrong (sort of).
    
    The Matrox Millenium multihead drivel for Inter available from Matrox's
    web site includes multihead support. (It does this without the need for
    multihead support in the OS itself).
    
    An Alpha version of the Matrox Millenium multihead driver isn't yet
    publically available for download but allegedly can be given to
    customers. It's on the internal commodity graphics home page at PKO
    (but I forget exactloy where). Check with Al Hopkins ?
    
    You can't do multihead with PowerStorm because the OS itself doesn't
    understand multihead, and there's no multihead magic in the PowerStorm
    drivers.
    
    regards
    john

    A word of caution....
    
    The Matrox Millenium multihead HAS NOT been qualed on any 4XXX server.
    
    Will it work? ..Maybe
    
    Do we support it?  ...No
    
    Ozzie Perez

	Hi,

	You are right , the dual-screen driver works on AS1000 , not
	on AS4100 !!!

	Which kind of video card can be used in the as4100 for 
	dual-screen configuration ??

	Thanks for your help

>>> (It does this without the need for multihead support in the OS itself).

In other words, it a hack and guaranteed to break in NT 5.0, when Microsoft 
plans to officialy support multihead.


							-Paul

|>>> (It does this without the need for multihead support in the OS itself).
|
|In other words, it a hack and guaranteed to break in NT 5.0, when Microsoft 
|plans to officialy support multihead.

Another way to look at it would be that Matrox's customers get to benefit
from the functionality that they need and want while Digital's customers
wait out in the cold for a perfect solution.  Matrox isn't the only one
selling multihead into the NT marketplace.  The "hack" moniker is just
FUD.

Tom

    Multihead already broke going from V3 to V4. Some folks are prepared to
    live with that again, especially those living (or expecting to live) on
    x86 timescales.
    
    Meanwhile the NT/Alpha driver for Matrox can now be found externally at
    	http://www.workstation.digital.com/firmware.html
    
    [announcement back-pointer: WINDOWS_NT note 6033.10]
    
    regards
    john

>>> The "hack" moniker is just FUD.

By "hack", I mean that multi-head software support is written and supported by OEM 
(Matrox), and not officially supported by Microsoft until possibly NT 5.0.  If it 
works and you can take advantage of it, then great.  If not, complain to Matrox, not 
Microsoft.

OEM-specific custom software (Matrox) is often more difficult to port to Alpha that 
the genaric NT code base. This is probably why the functionality is not present in 
the Alpha version. 

The ideal solution would be for Matrox to develop and support the Alpha NT version 
of the video driver.  The x86 PC world seems to have mastered the ability for 3rd 
parties to develop an maintain their own drivers.  Digital has not yet been able to 
adopt this model for Alpha for a number of reasons.


							-Paul

    For clarification of .-1: so far as I know, the NT/Alpha Matrox driver
    *does* do multiscreen. 
    
    Yes it would probably be nice if vendors or MS did it for us, but in
    the meantime we have now come pretty close to Matrox's own
    functionality. Multihead works; I saw it, therefore it must be true :-)