Subject: Re: more Pulsar/S900 woes
To: None <port-macppc@netbsd.org>
From: Jeff Walther <trag@io.com>
List: port-macppc
Date: 09/27/2003 00:53:50
At 04:12 +0000 09/27/2003, ML wrote:

>  I have two graphics boards - A Matrox Millennium II and a IMS TwinTurbo 3d,
>  both work correctly only in a PCI-slot controlled by bandit, maybe 
>a driver issue
>  under MacOS, who knows.

Do you mean an IMS Ultimate Rez card?  There was no Twin Turbo 3D, 
unless they marketed a different card under that name outside the US. 
The Twin Turbo has no 3D capability and works well in the Pulsar. 
The chip on the Ult. Rez. card is labeled TT 128 - 3D though.

The Ult. Rez. card has problems in the lower (PPB) slots under Mac 
OS.  However, I've found this to be a driver issue.

Also, I'm not sure how it affects BSD, but the Apple ROM'ed Twin 
Turbo works better under OSX than the IMS ROM'ed Twin Turbo.

>The USB card works fine under MacOS, although it sits in a slot 
>controlled by the
>  PCI bridge and not bandit.

In theory, there should not be any difference in compatibility 
between Bandit and PPB slots.  However, there is definitely a bug in 
the Apple firmware (ROM) with respect to PCI-PCI Bridges.   I can go 
into detail about my observations if anyone wishes.   I don't know 
what the cause is, but I've experimented on the Pulsar (S900) a lot 
to nail down the parameters of the problem.

Note that this problem also exists in the 8600/9600 ROM ($77D.34F2) 
and in the Kansas ROM ($77D.34F5).   It is usually only noticed under 
the original x500 and clone ROM ($77D.28F2) because that's what Apple 
sold for clone use and the S900/J700/Pulsar are the only machines 
with a PPB on board.

Jeff Walther