>> He told us all to get better hardware (obviously the Amiga) or just
>> live in hell with our PC hardware.
>
> I don't think Jes wants you to buy an Amiga.
The Mac is too expensive and the Atari is dead. Most of the world
isn't rich you see, and would like to have computers anyway.
> The problem is that a lot of PC hardware is crappy. And people just buy it
> because it's 50 cent cheaper than decent hardware. What a wonderful world...
People drink Bud Light, live in apartments, drive compact cars,
and eat at McDonalds. They even run Windows, since unix cost too
much (hardware + license) in 1980.
Is stable modern video restricted to those who can afford an SGI?
If so, it is not for any technical reason.
>> The i740 can issue multiple requests for texture data stored in main memory.
>> Don't think "WinVideo" here, since the chip uses several MB of local
>> memory while simultaneously fetching from main memory at 533 MB/s.
>> On a good machine, that could mean hundreds of MB of textures.
>
> Please show us the programming specs for the i740 first (without NDA!)
> so we can write a driver for it :-)
>
> It's nice to have such a video chip if you can't even write a driver for it.
I know. Consider it an example of modern video hardware, nothing more.
Matrox has something similar AFAIK, and I'd expect we get info after
they feel it won't help the competition too much.
Perhaps you can explain how a userspace solution will drive a chip
like the i740. If you prefer, think "Cyrix CPU with built-in video"
and assume we have documentation. Don't forget the chipset-initiated
DMA, perhaps including use of the i386 page tables and an IRQ.
>>> (I'm an x86 user, by the way, so your ultimate argument doesn't apply.
>>
>> No, you have different reasons than he does. You are willing to give up
>> stability for a tiny bit of speed on low-end hardware. He has an Amiga.
>> The only thing you have in common is a "screw you" attitude towards
>> people who want stable PC video and/or want to use advanced features.
>
> People who want a `stable' system should buy `stable' hardware.
With OS protection, most junk is stable. It is much cheaper to
use a bit of kernel memory than it is to buy proper hardware.
So far, only one example of proper hardware has been given,
and I can't find it at www.pricewatch.com.
I don't think I could buy a well-behaved modern video board at any price,
though I could put the whole damn X server in RAM for only $14.41. :-)
KGI gives poverty-stricken users good video for less than a dime.
Compare that to the cost of an SGI or the slowness of a dumb framebuffer.
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