(this is going to both 1st-PowerMacs and Quadlist since it applies to both)
I picked up a still shrink-wrapped "2124NB II" Nubus Graphics Card (made by the now-defunct Micro Conversions) on eBay for a reasonable price. It has some interesting features such as Zoom (zooms in/out on a portion of the screen near the mouse cursor by hitting a hot key) and Pan (runs a bigger "virtual desktop" and allows "panning" around it by moving the mouse to the edge of the currently visible area). It also goes up to 1152x870 resolution at millions of colors and does some hardware-based QuickDraw acceleration. A LowEndMac page says it is compatible through Mac OS 9.0.4 (not with 9.1), but that's not entirely true. The HARDWARE works in my Mac OS 9.1 PowerMac 8100 (with a NewerTech G3). However, the SOFTWARE (a control panel) causes screen "artifacts" in some situations. Without the control panel installed, the card seems to behave properly, but QuickDraw acceleration and the Pan/Zoom features are not enabled (you still get millions of colors at up to 1152x870). The card's performance is noticeably slower than the PDS AV Card that is standard on "AV" Nubus PowerMacs, even with QuickDraw acceleration enabled on the 2124NB card. The performance difference is likely to be more noticeable in my case because my 8100 has a G3; on a non-accelerated nubus PowerMac running Mac OS 8.6 or 8.1 (or lower), the 2124NB would probably work quite well. I say that because I put the card in a Mac OS 8.1 Quadra 700 (with a Daystar PPC 601). In that system (using either the 68040 or PPC CPU), everything seems to work perfectly and the performance of the card nicely matches the performance of the Mac. Now, my Quadra 700 (with max vram) already has pretty decent built-in graphics, but I think I'll leave the 2124NB in it for now. If I ever attach a larger monitor to it, I'll be able to get 24-bit color at a higher resolution and could even make it a "two-headed" system. Happy Holidays! - Ken W -- Quadlist is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Quadlist info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/quadlist.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/quadlist%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
