(Sony) Notes [was: Re: tlug: graphic chipset]

[Manuel Chakravarty <chak@example.com>]

> I bought a laptop Canon 5500GX with neomagic 
> chipset (NMG4) and I've been told that Linux 
> doesn't not support such chipset. 
> 
> Anyway, I heart that I can buy some software 
> to make it work at http://www.xig.com (which 
> doesn't not answer, by the way!)...

Xi Graphics doesn't list your machine explicitly on their
page of supported machines:

  http://www.xig.com/board/lxlist.html

But there are generic enrties for NeoMagic chips.  You can
download a test version of their server from the Web site
and try it.

With regard to my own inquiry about supported B5 machines, I 
got the following additional information (in case someone is 
interested to now):

  Sony PCG-505: Since recently, Xi Graphics lists it in
    their list of supported Laptops (also has a NeoMagic
    graphics accelerator).  But I heard from a salesperson at
    Softmap that the machine is quite critical with PCMCIA
    cards, even when running our most disliked OS, as most
    of the IRQ are already occupied -- so this might pose
    problems with Linux, too.  Furthermore, it uses a USB
    port to allow connection of a an external adapter which
    has RS232, centronix etc interfaces.  I am not sure
    about the status of support for this kind of interface
    in Linux.  Does anybody know any details?

  Panasonic AL-N2: Again a Note with the NeoMagic chips.  Is 
    supposed to run with the server from Xi Graphics,

To make life more interesting, I yesterday hat a look at
some non-B5 notes from Sony.  Does anybody have any
experience with

  Sony's PCG-723 (or 713)?

It also uses a NeoMagic chip, but it isn't explicitly listed 
by Xi Graphics.  So, I was wondering whether anybody tried it.

Cheers,

Manuel
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