http://www.gamers.org/dEngine/xf3D/howto/3Dfx-HOWTO.html
Voodoo1: Not a bad card. On my P100, I got about 25fps for Quake.
On my DPII233, I got a little less than 30fps. Personally, I don't find
that fast enough. I prefer to run quake at 55fps using software at
320x200, so I sold my Monster3D. You just can't compare BSP to Zbuffering.
If you want to run OpenGL for the Voodoo1, this is what happens:
-You need a setuid binary (just like good'ol svgalib).
-You need X to be running, of course.
-You have to set one enviroment string to tell libMesa to use the Voodoo
instead of software.
-Once you run the binary, the voodoo takes over your monitor
(not your 2D card) and your 3D workspace is fullscreen.
-You lose your mouse pointer.
-However, X still thinks you have a window. So, if you move your mouse
blindly, you will lose focus on the window (depending on how you configured
your Window Manager) and your OpenGL program won't respond to keypress
anymore.
-If your program crashes, it will leave the video sitting in the 3D state
and you can't anything you type (just like good'ol svgalib). This can be
extremely annoying.
Comparing software Zbuffering(softwareMesaGL) to
hardware Zbuffering(MesaGL+Voodoo1), the voodoo1 was much much faster
than my DPII233. When I run SoftwareMesaGL programs, my load
average jumps up to 2.0 (One CPU is used to render and the other CPU is used
to handle X)
Voodoo II: The announcement of the latest GLIDE library having
Voodoo2 support under Linux came just about two weeks ago.
(Before that, there was no Voodoo2 for Linux)
with this performance is supported under Linux.
Voodoo rush: Quite slower than the Voodoo1.
But recently they just added Linux support. I don't know much about it.
> I seem to remember there was also some Permidia II support...
> I've seen the Creative Labs Graphics Balster Extreme for $139 (4Mb, PCI)
PermidiaII: This 3DLabs/GLINT chipset is slower than the Voodoo1.
I wasn't paying attention to the Graphics Blaster Extreme,
but I know that it's also sitting in the Diamond FireGL1000Pro.
I haven't heard of any PermidiaII support for Linux except for
the 2D part under AccelX.
There is some work under way for XF86 3D-driver for the 3DLabs GLINT
chips, 300TX and possibly the 500TX. But I wouldn't hold my breathe.
http://fantasia.eng.clemson.edu:80/~adamsk/glint_index.html
However, the PermidiaII is very good for OpenGL under NT; but it is still
not very good for games.
What about Matrox? They suck! I got screwed by them because they refuse to
release any specs. When the Millennium first came out, it was one of the
few 3D video card but it was very popular. I bought the Millennium for $450.
They had ONE program that uses the 3D acceleration: Nascar Racer.
Their "OpenGL" NT driver was purely software and didn't even touch the 3D-HW.
After three years later, I gave up hope for any 3D Accel under Linux
for MGA. If you ever see any OpenGL benchmark, you'll notice that the
new MillenniumII is way at the bottom of the chart.
> Or, I saw a request on the Mesa site for Riva 128 support...
Sounds like more vapourware.
-- st2