My original question was basically "how do I get a PBXGA-AA working with my PW
433au, and is there anything cheap that's a good alternative?". I had several
rapid email replies and one phone call from Joe Fletcher. The overwhelming
consensus is to obtain an Elsa Gloria Synergy, which is now officially
supported, deals with better resolutions and colour depths than the low-end
PowerStorm cards, and is substantially cheaper.
Note that Thomas Leitner warned that "Beware, though, that you can't just buy
such a card from a PC dealer. The PC versions of this card are said to have a
different ROM chip."
As a final comment, Arnold Sutter pointed out that the PBXGA-AA card does not
support VGA and will not work on DPWS system, giving the same symptoms as I
observed.
Many thanks to all.
James
[ Summary of replies follow ]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Thomas Leitner <tom_at_radar.tu-graz.ac.at>
Try an Elsa Gloria Synergy. They are fully supported by DU 4.0E
and are rather cheap. I have a quotation from a German dealer
(www.deltacomputer.de) for about DEM 570,-- which is about 200 UK Pounds
In any case: This card is definatly the best choice currently for
Digital Unix. It has 8MB RAM and a rather modern 3D graphics chip.
Beware, though, that you can't just buy such a card from a PC dealer.
The PC versions of this card are said to have a different ROM chip.
Another cheap choice would be a ZLXp-E2. I got mine for US$50
from the US from someone who bought an Alpha for Linux and could
not use this card because it is not supported under Linux. I'm
sure that there are still a lot of people out there who are in
the same situation so you're likely to find someone who would
sell you his card.
As for the 3D30: I have no idea why it doesn't work. I have
my ZLXp-E2 on a VRC21-HA as well and the only problem I had, was
the grounding of the green signal. I had to solder a short bridge
on the SVGA connector to get a clean image on the monitor.
But if you don't see anything, this is ground problem is not the
reason. I suspect some problem with the VSYNC. The VRT21-HA
maybe requires Sync in green.
There is a console variable called "tga_XXX" (where I'm not
sure about the xxxx -- but you should find it in the list archives)
which can be used to control sync-in-green and similar things.
You could attach a serial console to try out these things.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Graham Allan <ALLAN_at_mnhep1.hep.umn.edu>
Compaq now lists the ELSA GLoria Synergy card as compatible with DEC
UNIX - at least with the new XP10000 workstation. I was thinking of
looking at this for some of our 433/500au systems, as it would be a nice
cheap way of getting 24-bit color. Pricewatch lists those cards as a
available for $80 or so - wonderful, if they work.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Arnold Sutter <Arnold.Sutter_at_udt.ch>
The PBXGA-AA is a ZLXp-E1 card that does not support VGA
but only TGA. It won't run on the DPWS (no picture) as it's firmware won't
support it. I for myself was getting a ZLXp-E2 in order to find
a graphics option that is supported both by Tru64 UNIX and
Linux just to find out that it won't work.
Anyway, a decent and inexpensive Graphics card for the
dpws and Tru64 UNIX (either V4.0D with Open3D V4.9
or V4.0E with or without Open3D) is the Elsa Gloria
Synergy (SN-PBXGK-B?). It does 1280x1024x16.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Richard Rogers <R.M.Rogers_at_staffs.ac.uk>
> [ my query about dip switch settings of the ZLXp-E1 card. ]
The switch settings seem to be the same for the whole range
(ZLXp-E1/2/3), so if you have the E2 settings, you can use those.
You're right in thinking these switches adjust the resolution; there
are also choices of refresh rates for some of the resolutions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 16:49:12 +0200
I had to put up with a similar problem previously PW433au wihout a
praphics adapter). A little inquiry revealed that they're going to pull
support off those adapters leaving the only option for me to get an ELSA
Gloria Synergy which should run fine with Tru64 Unix 4.0D AND Open3D
V4.9 or Tru64 Unix V4.E (with or without Open3D) in a PW433au. Btw, the
card is VERY cheap (compared to 3D30, 4D20 and friends), roughly 220 UK
Pounds + tax for one with 8 MB of video memory.
Received on Thu Apr 08 1999 - 16:31:40 NZST