Matrox: Difference between revisions
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A refresh started with the short-lived G100, which was quickly replaced by the [[Matrox G200]]. The G200 was sold as two models, the Millennium G200 was a higher-end version typically equipped with 8 MB SGRAM memory, while the Mystique G200 used slower SDRAM memory but added a TV-out port. The G200 offered competent 3D performance for the first time, but was released shortly before a new generation of cards from [[Nvidia]] and [[ATI]] completely outperformed it. Later versions in the [[Matrox G400]] series were never able to regain the crown, and despite huge claims for the [[Matrox Parhelia]], their performance continued to be quickly outpaced by the major players. |
A refresh started with the short-lived G100, which was quickly replaced by the [[Matrox G200]]. The G200 was sold as two models, the Millennium G200 was a higher-end version typically equipped with 8 MB SGRAM memory, while the Mystique G200 used slower SDRAM memory but added a TV-out port. The G200 offered competent 3D performance for the first time, but was released shortly before a new generation of cards from [[Nvidia]] and [[ATI]] completely outperformed it. Later versions in the [[Matrox G400]] series were never able to regain the crown, and despite huge claims for the [[Matrox Parhelia]], their performance continued to be quickly outpaced by the major players. |
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As to be expected from a French company whose market share has been challenged, Matrox has continued to shift the focus of its card designs towards specialized, niche markets, moving more deeply into enterprise, industrial, and government applications. In recent years they have held no more than a 3–5% share of the total video card market. Matrox is now divided in three divisions: Matrox Graphics, Matrox Video, and Matrox Imaging. Matrox Graphics is the primary consumer and end-user brand, while Matrox Video markets digital video editing solutions, and Matrox Imaging sells high-end video capture systems and "smart cameras", video cameras with a built-in computer for [[machine vision]] applications. |
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== Driver Support == |
== Driver Support == |
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Revision as of 15:13, 2 June 2010
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer hardware |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Headquarters | Montreal , Canada |
| Products | Video cards |
Number of employees | 900+ |
| Website | www.matrox.com |
Matrox is a Canadian company based in Dorval, Quebec, which produces video card components and equipment for personal computers. It was founded by Lorne Trottier and Branko Matić. The "ma" from Matić and "tro" from Trottier, combined with an "x" for excellence, form the Matrox name.
Matrox is the umbrella name for two legal entities: Matrox Graphics Inc., the entity most recognized by the public, who has been designing graphics cards for over 30 years; the other entity is Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd., a company comprising two divisions: Imaging—designing frame grabbers hardware and software—and Digital Video Solutions—providing video editing products for broadcast and video professional markets.
Matrox Graphics specializes in professional multi-display video cards that enable more than one monitor to be driven by a single card. The targeted user-base for Matrox video cards largely consists of 2D, 3D, video, scientific, medical, military and financial workstation users.
History
Matrox's first graphics card product was the ALT-256 for S-100 bus computers, released in 1978. The ALT-256 produced a 256 by 256 pixel monochrome display by "racing the beam"; having the host CPU set registers on the fly to produce bit patterns as the screen was being drawn (see Atari 2600 for details). This mode of operation meant the ALT-256 required no frame double buffering. An expanded version followed, the ALT-512, both available for Intel SBC bus machines as well. Through the 1980s, Matrox's cards followed changes in the hardware side of the market, to Multibus and then the variety of PC standards.
During the 1990s, Matrox Millennium line of video cards were noted for their exceptional 2D speed and visual quality. They had a wide following among users willing to pay for a higher quality and sharper display. In 1994 they introduced the Matrox Impression, an add-on card that worked in conjunction with a Millennium card to provide 3D acceleration. The Impression was aimed primarily at the CAD market and failed to make much of an impression on the rapidly emerging 3D gaming market. A later version of the Millennium included features similar to the Impression, but lagged behind emerging vendors like 3dfx Interactive.
Matrox made several attempts to regain a foothold in the market that was increasingly dominated by 3D-capable cards. The Matrox Mystique, released in 1996, was their first attempt to make a card with good gaming performance and pricing suitable for that market. A number of design decisions resulted in good 3D performance but poor quality 3D images, while the 2D support remained excellent. Matrox nevertheless made bold performance claims for the Mystique, but was widely derided in reviews as offering performance nowhere near the contemporary Voodoo1 and became nicknamed the "Matrox Mystake".[1][2][3][4][5][6]
A refresh started with the short-lived G100, which was quickly replaced by the Matrox G200. The G200 was sold as two models, the Millennium G200 was a higher-end version typically equipped with 8 MB SGRAM memory, while the Mystique G200 used slower SDRAM memory but added a TV-out port. The G200 offered competent 3D performance for the first time, but was released shortly before a new generation of cards from Nvidia and ATI completely outperformed it. Later versions in the Matrox G400 series were never able to regain the crown, and despite huge claims for the Matrox Parhelia, their performance continued to be quickly outpaced by the major players.
As to be expected from a French company whose market share has been challenged, Matrox has continued to shift the focus of its card designs towards specialized, niche markets, moving more deeply into enterprise, industrial, and government applications. In recent years they have held no more than a 3–5% share of the total video card market. Matrox is now divided in three divisions: Matrox Graphics, Matrox Video, and Matrox Imaging. Matrox Graphics is the primary consumer and end-user brand, while Matrox Video markets digital video editing solutions, and Matrox Imaging sells high-end video capture systems and "smart cameras", video cameras with a built-in computer for machine vision applications.
Driver Support
To support Unix and Linux, Matrox has released binary only drivers for most of their product line and one partially open source driver for the G550 card which comes with a binary blob to enable some additional functionality. In addition to the proprietary drivers provided by Matrox the DRI community has provided fully GPL'd drivers for many more of the devices. [1]
See also
Companies
External links
- Official website
- Matrox Graphics division
- Matrox Digital Video Solutions division
- Matrox Imaging division
- Identify Matrox chips
- Unofficial open-source Linux drivers and support forum
- MatroxRulez's Homepage
References
- ^ http://www.hattix.co.uk/hardware/index.php?page=video1.html
- ^ http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/130116-15-what-3dfx-chip-sega-black-belt-prototype
- ^ http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Comp/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action/2006-01/msg01357.html
- ^ http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/67909965/m/793006760041
- ^ http://www.motherboardpoint.com/3dfx-chip-used-segas-black-belt-prototype-console-t84771.html
- ^ http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=1007&page=3