Re: OpenVMS Integrity Graphics card questions


Robert Deininger wrote:
In article <1156897939.666811.157390@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"johnhreinhardt@xxxxxxxxx" <johnhreinhardt@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Fred may chime in with more details if he sees the thread.

I can't seem to find the discussions at the moment but it seems to me
that it's been said that OpenVMS Integrity will not support the DVI
port on an ATI Radeon 7000 graphics card. I also think it was said
that it won't support a second head on the same card ( Mine has one VGA
and one DVI). Can anyone verify this?

VMS supports the Radeon 7500 PCI plug-in card on the entry-level Integrity
servers. I don't recall the product number for the card, but it's in the
configuration guides and QuickSpecs for the systems. It is the same
hardware supported on various recent Alpha systems, but the order number,
packaging and accompanying documentation are different.


Since this is a hobbyist endeavor I'm planning on using a retail ATI
Radeon 7500 I picked up on Ebay (I picked up 3 new, sealed, in a retail
box for $35 each plus shipping - they also work great in the XP1000).
The ZX6000 workstation I aquired has an NVidia Quadro2 Pro AGP card and
no MP so I was looking into OpenVMS compatible devices.

VMS only supports 1 head per Radeon 7500 card. You can use the VGA
output. I think, but I'm not positive, that you can use the DVI output.
You CAN'T use both.

Unfortunately the 7500's I have only have the VGA (plus S-Video and a
TV-tuner). All of the 7500's I've found with DVI are AGP rather than
PCI.


HP-UX supports the same card, on roughly the same set of Integrity servers.

If the available configuration documents don't answer these questions to
your satisfaction, the documents are due for a round of repairs. There
are feedback mechanisms provided on the web, and they are even supposed to
be working.


I've read the Install guide for the AGP Radeon 7500 (which is available
on the HP website) and gotten the PCI version to work in my XP1000.
Since this wandering to the Integrity side is all on non-supported
hardware and hobbyist related, the range of knowledge required is
somewhat outside that available from the HP documentation.

Radeon 7000 seems to be one of the names used for the built-in graphics
chip used in the Management Processor. The chip implements a subset of
the Radeon 7500. VMS supports graphics on the MP of the Integity servers,
but only a "2D" subset of the Radeon 7500 functionality. I don't know the
details well enough to describe the subset.


I have a (two, actually) OEM PC Radeon 7000 with the dual output (1
VGA, 1 DVI). Since I want to use this system as a master controller
for my other VMS sytems and anticipate using DECwindows extensively I'd
like to be able to use it with my 20" LCD and the DVI input. Since I
can't find any PCI bus 7500's with DVI I may try the 7000 to see if the
DVI output will work. I'd rather use a 7500, but since I won't really
be doing much 3D work it may not perform too badly (assuming it works
at all).

You can use the Radon 7500 with or without the MP graphics on systems
where MP is optional.

If you get an Integrity system without the Management Processor, I
assume you can put a Radeon in one of the PCI slots. Will OpenVMS
Integrity support anything besides the 7000? Doesn't the 7500 also
work?

VMS doesn't support a "Radeon 7000" plug-in card, if such a thing exists.
If you find one, VMS might recongnize it and it might "work", but it isn't
supported.


Okay. I was making the assumption (perhaps a false one) that since the
MP card has a Radeon 7000 equivalent built-in that a separate PCI card
would work also. Time for experimentation!

I've read that the AGP slot (on the otherwise unsupported ZX6000) will
not work and I'm pretty sure it has been said that it won't be. Is
there any work planned for any kind of graphics solutions for the
Integrity systems in VMS (Other than the Radeon 7000/7500)?

I don't think the AGP graphics card was even tried with VMS on this
system. VMS doesn't support the system (which has been out of production
for a while), and the industry is moving away from AGP as far as I know.
I don't expect any additional VMS work on AGP graphics support.

Radeon 7500 is likely to be the only add-on graphics solution until
PCI-express ships and matures somewhat on Integrity servers. There's
currently no timetable for possible support of a future PCI-express card,
but I believe folks are looking into it.

Thanks for all your help and information Robert.

John H. Reinhardt

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OpenVMS Integrity Graphics card questions
    ... that it won't support a second head on the same card (Mine has one VGA ... The Radeon 700 PCI cards are not supported, though I've seen reports they work on some Alpha boxes -- the particular one I've seen has had some minor display artifact. ... The supported cards for Integrity are the HP Radeon 7500 PCI cards. ...
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  • Re: OpenVMS Integrity Graphics card questions
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