KennyR wrote:
nVidia support even on Linux is poor, and doesn't support 3D. Only the binary drivers nVidia release themselves for Windows (and which are notoriously buggy) have 3D support.
Rubbish.
nVidia themselves release Linux drivers, and actively update them. These have full 3D support, as you'd expect, but because they're not open source they're not included with most freely available distributions. Most boxed retail distros will include them, at least for x86. This has been the case for years now.
In fact, it is ATI drivers that are a problem on Linux, because they have to be reverse engineered, and any information ATI release is reputed to be inaccurate and incomplete.
ATI cards are currently technically superior in many ways, but unless you have a platform officially and directly supported by ATI - meaning they release the drivers themselves - you're no better off than with an nVidia card. Both ATI and nVidia cards run seriously hot and need a fairly effective cooling system, particularly the newest models.
If you run Windows, your choice should be made by reading all the reviews and the technical specifications of each card. The fastest is not always the most advanced, etc.
If you run anything but Windows, your choice is limited by who does the drivers for your OS. The technical abilities and speed of the card are secondary.
Not true. A1 is basically only sold for OS4.
Again wrong. The A1 was built to satisfy Eyetech's need for a custom system their industrial customers could not purchase from anywhere else, therefore allowing for high profit margins per unit to be maintained. They previously used old Amiga systems for this, but understandably were going to have problems as the supply slowly dwindled.
The OS4 tie-in is so that those systems can be sold to the consumer market too, with Eyetech looking for the same exclusive angle they have with their industrial niche.
Pegasos is cheaper, meant for a much bigger market, and OS's for it don't need workarounds for problems with the Articia chip. You just port it and go.
Balls. Pegasos ports still need workarounds, even if not for the Articia chip. Otherwise all those ports that have been almost done for over a year would be available for download.
A1 on the other hand is badly priced for these markets and has problems just running Linux. No-one wants to adapt their kernel to run on an expensive PPC board when they can do it for half the price with no workarounds on a Peg.
Both Peg and A1 are overpriced and overhyped. One rates as distinctly mediocre hardware, while the other borders on being downright poor. In both cases the operating systems are raw and unfinished.
To those guys considering which system to buy, I'd have this advice: come back in five years. By then one or both systems will have matured into something worth buying if you're that way inclined, or they will have died and been buried for good. Buying one at the moment is like throwing your life saving down a wishing well in the hope that it will make you win the big lottery prize.
