The latest “SciTech SNAP Graphics for Linux Beta” now provides plug-and-play support for more than 100 of the most popular chipsets, full 2D acceleration, and is certified by SciTech to be compatible with nearly a dozen different Linux distributions.With the official release now in sight we are interested in hearing from OSNews readers as to what features are important to them on a day-to-day basis (we already know 3D is at the top of the list but unfortunately will
not make this release). Your feedback will be used to prioritize the last few remaining projects prior to the release and to help us validate our future looking
product development roadmap.
If you have yet to try the beta release you can either download it HERE or learn more about SciTech SNAP Graphics for Linux by reading either of the following documents or by browsing SciTechsoft.com of course.
Read Me and SciTech SNAP Graphics for Linux Change List
This being OSnews, feel free to comment on other OS’es, distributions, and or related technologies you would like to see supported.
Cheers,
Andrew
Althought I need the nvidia drivers, because i write opengl..
beos
Anything for better responsiveness =)Though, I don’t remember where I saw it, i read an article that said X could be fast.
Though, I don’t remember where I saw it, i read an article that said X could be fast.
‘could’ doesn’t give the enough word of promise, will X team improvement on the speed? Or, perhaps when will X team do it? Who knows.. It’s when SciTech already made it a lot faster than X. Check the benchmark: http://www.scitechsoft.com/snap_test_results/snap_test_home.html
Anyway, I am still waiting for the FreeBSD version. 🙂
Forgive my ignorance if this is more an application level feature…
I run a headless Gentoo miniITX box (no monitor attached) and because of this I have no need to run an X display locally on it. ie/ if someone plugs in a monitor to the box, all they see is a text/console prompt.
All the same though, I run a tightVNC daemon on the box and have all the necessary graphics libraries to display X applications remotely via a virtual display manager – ie/ the display runs on the VNC client (remotely) on my laptop.
I figure this is a good setup since the headless box isn’t wasting RAM running X locally.
Is this sort of thing still possible with SNAP graphics?
cheers,
Yaro
???
You’ll get lots more responses.
Thats kinda important to me, on things like my laptop I can live without 3D support but video I’d need.
I’ve looked and looked but can’t find pricing, what would pricing be like?
I would like to see SciTech develop a similar sysyem for sound cards.
There is the same driver problem with sound cards as with graphics cards.
I installed the beta on RHL9 and X programs seem to respond faster; moving windows shows less visible trash, scrolling in mozilla goes more smooth and even application startup times seem to be shorter.
Well, at least it seems so. I don’t know if this is all my imagination…
I disagree, ALSA does just fine. If you mean a lack of drivers, then I may agree – thats a perpetual issue with alternative o.s.’s, but whats wrong with ALSA insofar as architecture goes?
It should at least include the Silicon Motion LynxEM chipset, otherwise I don’t have any use at all for it on my laptop…
If scitech wants more users, I think they need to be both feature complete compared to any xfree86 offering (meaning that also 3D support must be present), and to offer something better than XFree86, eg. RENDER acceleration, or better XVideo support (eg. sync to vertical retrace, which is not supported for many drivers).
I also think that it makes much more sense to switch for people when (if ever) XFree86 itself moves to distribute drivers independently of the rest of the XFree86 distribution.
Lastly, scitech would attract some developer support if their drivers could be used fully accelerated with DirectFB.
for ATI IGP support.
I only run linux at work, which has a matrox g550 in it, w/ 2 monitors hooked up, since the matrox driver (beta too) supports dual-head. I did not see any mention of dual-head support on their site, neither saying they do or don’t support it. Does anyone here know?
No 9600/pro support?
I realize it’s a beta and I hope they work all the kinks out soon. Hopefully then they can start working on a FreeBSD version if everything works well….
It looks like there is no support for i830M. It is very unfortunate, since laptop owners cannot switch to another, supported video board
I currently run my machine (it has an nVidia GeForce 2 and a 1600×1200 LCD-screen) with the following “Screen”/”Display” settings: “Mode 1600×1200” and “virtual 2048 1520″ because I can’t get the XFree86 nVidia driver to give me anything larger. I’d *really” like to go to something like “virtual 2536 1902” but the drivers won’t give me that. Can SciTech do that for me?
I’ve been using the beta drivers since .16 on my GeForce 2 MX, the 2d quality seems far better than NVidia’s current 2D driver or XFree86’s basic 2D driver.
However, they desperately need to add Render acceleration support, once I saw that I feel like I could get an accurate guage of performance. SNAP is not practical for my home machine though until it has 3D support for my Radeon 9800 Pro, or they find some way to allow ATi’s FireGL binary 3D drivers to co-exist and work with their 2D driver which I think is far better than anyone’s so far.
X video support is on the list (near the top:) As for pricing feel free to share your oppinions on this – my goal is to get this product out for 29.95 or less but am still working out the logistics with our bean counter;)
Easier said then done. However, I like the tone and focus of OSNews as for the most part we tend to get real, on-topic feedback rather than links to tub-girl and the likes
Correct, we are looking for HW from ATI and will add support for this card shortly. In the mean time ATI faithfull will have to make due with one of the following:
3D Rage Pro, 3D Rage LT Pro, Rage XL, Rage 128, Rage 128 Pro, Rage 128 Ultra, Rage Mobility 128, Rage Mobility 128-D4x, Radeon, Radeon VE, Mobility Radeon, Radeon 7500, Mobility Radeon 7500, Radeon 8500, Radeon 8500DV, Mobility Radeon 9000, Radeon 9000 Pro, Radeon 9500, Radeon 9500 Pro, Radeon 9700 Pro
If they can improve notebook support, add XVideo (if it isn’t there), DRI, and support for XCursor themes as in XFree 4.3 I’ll buy it. I’ve been a beta tester for months, yet I can’t even begin to help them yet.
If they can improve notebook support, add XVideo (if it isn’t there), DRI, and support for XCursor themes as in XFree 4.3 I’ll buy it. I’ve been a beta tester for months, yet I can’t even begin to help.
As someone mentioned earier, it would be nice to see a version for Zeta/BeOS.
dual-head support is on our short list of things to complete – look for this addition in the near future
Hello,
Yes, it’s about time the Linux sphere began concentrating on providing drivers that far exceeds the quality, output and performance of Microsofts 2D/3D benchmarks. When that happens, I guarantee and influx computer users into Linux haven. In fact, the success of Linux as a desktop OS largely depends on providing high quality video and sound drivers that outpace what is available in the market.
Seriously, it’s about time we stopped playing 3rd fiddle to MAC and Windows. I don’t appreciate half hearted approaches. Do it once and do it well. I would support this project only after both 2D and 3D acceleration are fully supported and functional, and they on par or, preferably, better than anything available in the market. Right now, the project is a semi completed, in my humble opinion.
Regards,
Mystilleef
Are there any performance numbers comparing it against stock nvidia binary drivers?
I currently run my machine (it has an nVidia GeForce 2 and a 1600×1200 LCD-screen) with the following “Screen”/”Display” settings: “Mode 1600×1200” and “virtual 2048 1520″ because I can’t get the XFree86 nVidia driver to give me anything larger. I’d *really” like to go to something like “virtual 2536 1902” but the drivers won’t give me that. Can SciTech do that for me?
Well, why can’t you just download and give it a try? I doubt, it will take a day to get it install and configure.
dual-head support is emerging from QA as we speak:) though it still lacks “the stamp of steve” I am confident in saying it will be in the certified feature list of the official release.
Note: this is not via support for Xinarama which will be added later. The initial dual-head feature in SciTech SNAP Graphics for Linux will split the entire desktop across two connected displays.
gaperf still crashes my GeForce2 MX based system. Or rather, the system goes to a black screen and my OGG player contiunes in the background but there’s no screen output for a long time. Eventually I just restart the machine so I can use it again
I believe this is documented in our news group.. but if not I am told the fault is actaually with our gaTest program and not with SciTech SNAP Graphics.
gaperf has already been fixed for the next release. As Andrew wrote, it was a bug in that program, not in the drivers.