The Perfect MorphOS Machine (Well Almost)

[Motormouth]

I recently bought a powermac g5 off of ebay for MorphOS
Specifically a powermac7,3 A1047 (EMC 2061)
It has a 2.0 Ghz 970fx x2, 2 GB of memory, and a 250 GB HardDrive
The most important thing is listing said it had a 256 MB ATI video card.
Best of all these computers are relatively cheap and plentiful on ebay, (unlike Amigas)

Back to the video card
Since it was a g5 AGP card with 256 MB, I figured it was at least an ATI 9650 or higher, maybe a 9800XT, or even a X800XT.
Before firing up the computer, I opened the case.
Wow it is beautiful inside.  It looks like what I imaged a modern Amiga would look like.
I would have to say this is even nicer than an A3000D.
Looking the expansion slots I see this huge video card with a monster heat sink.
Jackpot, it looks like a high end video card!   But wait I see an Nvidia logo on the heat sink, darn.

Too bad MorphOS does not have drivers for these.  Well the video card ended up being an Nvidia 6800GT.
I wrote the seller and told him the problem.  He said the computer had an ATI 9800XT video card in it that died before shipping, so he threw a nicer 256 MB 6800 GT into it.  He didn’t think anyone would care.
Well to end the story he gave me a partial refund.  I picked up a cheap oem apple version ATI 9600 video card with 128 MB.   MorphOS is working nicely.
The question now is, what to do with the Mac Nvidia 6800GT?  It is much nicer than the ATI 9600.  Is there any chance of MorphOS drivers for Nvidia cards?  Should I just sell it?

[jj]

I would not hold your breath for Nvidia drivers.   If you not got spare pc to put it in , I would sell/give it away.  IMHO

[pVC]

If it's worth of any money and you need that kind of sum, sell it. If there's a miracle and MorphOS gets Nvidia drivers some day, you probably get one of those for free at that time

[Iggy]

I don't think you will ever see MorphOs Nvidia drivers.
PM sent.

[nicholas]

It would be nice to see Deadwood's Gallium 3D system ported from AROS to MorphOS, but like Jim says it isn't very likely to happen.

[Rob]

It would be nice to see Deadwood's Gallium 3D system ported from AROS to MorphOS, but like Jim says it isn't very likely to happen.

With work on the drivers for X1xx0 series cards under way it shouldn't matter much.  G5 + Radeon X1950 will be pretty awesome.  Look forward to seeing that when it happens.

Is there any word from the MorphOS team on what direction they're taking with regard to OpenGL?

[Iggy]

With work on the drivers for X1xx0 series cards under way it shouldn't matter much.  G5 + Radeon X1950 will be pretty awesome.  Look forward to seeing that when it happens.

Is there any word from the MorphOS team on what direction they're taking with regard to OpenGL?

Unless a future R500 driver works without openfirmware requirements, the best R500 card available for the G5 is the Apple X1900GT.
The X1950 only work with Mac Pros (X86 machines).

And any R500 driver release is likely to be several months from now.

An R400 driver is likely to be released first (possibly quite soon).

In informal tests, I have found the X800XT slightly outperforms the X1900GT.

And Apple X800XT cards can be found at cheap prices on occasion.

[rzookol]

Unless a future R500 driver works without openfirmware requirements, the best R500 card available for the G5 is the Apple X1900GT.
The X1950 only work with Mac Pros (X86 machines).

And any R500 driver release is likely to be several months from now.

An R400 driver is likely to be released first (possibly quite soon).

In informal tests, I have found the X800XT slightly outperforms the X1900GT.

And Apple X800XT cards can be found at cheap prices on occasion.

My PowerMac G5 has X1950Xt 256 MB and it works perfectly (OF+MacosX)

[Iggy]

My PowerMac G5 has X1950Xt 256 MB and it works perfectly (OF+MacosX)

No kidding?

So does mine.

Won't run MorphOS though.

Reread my post.

[Rob]

Unless a future R500 driver works without openfirmware requirements, the best R500 card available for the G5 is the Apple X1900GT.
The X1950 only work with Mac Pros (X86 machines).

And any R500 driver release is likely to be several months from now.

An R400 driver is likely to be released first (possibly quite soon).

In informal tests, I have found the X800XT slightly outperforms the X1900GT.

And Apple X800XT cards can be found at cheap prices on occasion.

Will there be support for R400 cards or are they being skipped like with OS4.  I don't keep such a keen eye on what's going on with MorphOS so I was only aware of the R500 driver being in progress because of the demo of MorphOS on San460 at Pianeta.

I suppose later cards could be initialised from within the OS like with out 68k Amigas.

[Motormouth]

I would not hold your breath for Nvidia drivers.   If you not got spare pc to put it in , I would sell/give it away.  IMHO

The Mac version of the 6800 GT would have to be heavily modded to work in a PC.  First it is flashed for macs.  Second it is AGP Pro x8 1.5v, not many PC motherboards implement AGP Pro.  Finally the mac version uses the the special ADC edge connector as an Auxiliary power source, instead of a 4 pin molex, or 6 and 8 pin collectors used today.  The mac 6800 GT would have to be modified to work with a different auxiliary power source.  

I am not going to say that this is impossible, it probably is not worth it in 2014.

[Motormouth]

@Iggy

I noticed in your message footer, 'Purchased a 2.0 GHz G5 PowerMac for now (and I have 2.3 PCI-E G5 PowerMac for future revisions of MorphOS)."

Do you think there are plans to support powermac11,2  (ie PCI-E G5 powermacs) under morphos in the near future?

[Iggy]

The Mac version of the 6800 GT would have to be heavily modded to work in a PC.  First it is flashed for macs.  Second it is AGP Pro x8 1.5v, not many PC motherboards implement AGP Pro.  Finally the mac version uses the the special ADC edge connector as an Auxiliary power source, instead of a 4 pin molex, or 6 and 8 pin collectors used today.  The mac 6800 GT would have to be modified to work with a different auxiliary power source.  

I am not going to say that this is impossible, it probably is not worth it in 2014.

Motormouth is dead right. the 6800 can't be modified for a PC, except for the few PCs that have an AGP Pro slot.


Rob, yes the R400 will hopefully receive support in version 3.6.

[Iggy]

@Iggy

I noticed in your message footer, 'Purchased a 2.0 GHz G5 PowerMac for now (and I have 2.3 PCI-E G5 PowerMac for future revisions of MorphOS)."

Do you think there are plans to support powermac11,2  (ie PCI-E G5 powermacs) under morphos in the near future?

Correction. I am not allowed to speculate.

[jj]

The Mac version of the 6800 GT would have to be heavily modded to work in a PC. First it is flashed for macs. Second it is AGP Pro x8 1.5v, not many PC motherboards implement AGP Pro. Finally the mac version uses the the special ADC edge connector as an Auxiliary power source, instead of a 4 pin molex, or 6 and 8 pin collectors used today. The mac 6800 GT would have to be modified to work with a different auxiliary power source.
 
I am not going to say that this is impossible, it probably is not worth it in 2014.

My bad forgot about the differences between caards.  Flashing can be hit and miss and pain in the arse in itself.  Sell it on ebay