New Win2000 drivers today?

[jms]

From Creative FAQ:

Q10. When can I download Creative's Windows 2000 drivers for my Sound Blaster Live!?
Creative will fully support Windows 2000 for the Sound Blaster Live! through a software package called Live!Ware for Windows 2000update.

This software package will be released Mid-March, 2000.


-jm

[Ant]

From the email I get I think many people would question if Win 98 and certainly Win NT 4 has a stable driver to fall back on for the G400s.

[LAMFDTK]

new beta paint job !

[Chasbo]

This was posted in one of the MS Win2000 newsgroups yesterday. I have no idea if Thomas B. Slinkard is someone from Matrox or what

---------Begin Quote-------
Three new BETA drivers have been posted on our web site.

- driver 5.50.010 for Win 9x (supports MIll G4, Mill G2, Myst G2, MGA G2)
- driver 5.01.019 for Win 2k (supports MIll G4, Mill G2, Myst G2, MGA G2)
- driver 4.42.031 for Win NT4 (supports MIll G4, Mill G2, Myst G2, MGA G2)

Matrox will be posting a WHQL-certified driver for Windows 2000 within the
next two weeks.

All 3 drivers are available from the latest drivers page: http://www.matrox.com/mga/drivers/la...ivers/home.htm

--
Thomas B. Slinkard

--------------End Quote-------------

[jediphoenix]

Well looks like 3dfx got their shit together, they have downloable win2k retail pci and agp drivers here:
http://www.3dfxgamers.com/docs/IO/16...w2k-retail.exe



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[paulcs]

Wow. What a difference a day makes. I'd expect Matrox will have to respond soon.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[jediphoenix]

I would think they should, i mean I know that they would not want to be outdone by of all companys 3DFX!!!! hehe

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[PaulS]

Why paulcs? Matrox have always seemed oblivious to public opinion in the past.

I wonder if they will even bother to explain why they failed to have final drivers available when W2k was released as previously stated.

It didn't take a brain surgeon to see this one coming.

Paul

[Ashley]

And on a related note, ATI's Rage128 drivers seem very polished as well. (Can't say the same about NVidia's "candidate release" though...)

[PaulS]

Apparently Dell has released new SBLive drivers for W2k. Haven't tried them yet, but it appears that they will work with non-Dell systems.

The are supposed to be installed using the "have disk" method.

ftp://ftp1.us.dell.com/audio/EnLA09W.zip

91M!

Paul

[tylau]

PaulS,

Why paulcs? Matrox have always seemed oblivious to public opinion in the past.

Obviously you are living in a different world from the rest of us. In the last year, I have NEVER seen a company cater so much to a minority user-base (retail purchased video card market. Matrox listened to us when we asked for resolution profiles made easy with PD 5.x. They listened to us when we asked for a tweak utility, they listened to us when we asked for a game-optimized OpenGL driver. They listened when we wanted support for Linux. They listened when you whined for a beta W2K driver. They listened when we wanted certain games fixed. They listened when we wanted better tech support. They appear to be dedicated to doing everything they can to prevent the mishap with the G200 launch and promised drivers.

I don't know about you, but I find their latest W2K beta driver to be pretty damn solid, it hasn't crashed my system one time. Sure, it doesn't have all of the convenient features we all know and love from win9x, but they are making very good progress, and they ARE listening. If you don't see that, then you really need to go and get your head examined...

Tin Yau Lau

[PaulS]

Hmm... Tweak utility, released after people started stuffing their BIOSs with powerstrip, and a couple of years after 3dfx released theirs.

Linux drivers, Matrox shamed into doing something after the Open Source community had G200/400 Linux OpenGL drivers well ahead of what Matrox had developed for inhouse Windows.

BTW, I asked for a public W2k beta program, what good is one beta driver for RC3, and one more released a few days before retail? Looks like they were desperate for feedback on these drivers right?

You could not have had much to do with NT over the last couple of years if you can seriously say that Matrox has listened to its retail customers (I am sure they do listen to their major OEMs).

Paul

[Ant]

I really have to disagree with the Linux statement. The Linux drivers were started by an opensource group, Matrox simply jumped on the bandwagon when they realised the drivers were looking really good and they could score points off the fact that John Carmack was involved in their development.

There is also the shameful way they completely neglected the NT 4 drivers and alienated a large population of previously loyal Matrox customers. You may think Matrox have changed since all of the problems with the G200 but they are simply following the money. They continue to release a succession of unstable beta drivers that are not ready for release just because they produce better benchmark scores.



[This message has been edited by Ant (edited 19 February 2000).]

[tylau]

PaulS,

Linux drivers, Matrox shamed into doing something after the Open Source community had G200/400 Linux OpenGL drivers well ahead of what Matrox had developed for inhouse Windows.

Uhhh...I have yet to see any linux drivers for the G200/G400 that outperform the win9x drivers. They were coming close to performing AS well, but not better...sorry better think of another one...

Ant,

They continue to release a succession of unstable beta drivers that are not ready for release just because they produce better benchmark scores.

The latest beta drivers for win9x are not that bad, they were released, I assumed, because there were a bunch of people complaining about not having any DX7 drivers. Also the latest 9x betas included quite a few fixes that were complained about on these forums. I agree that NT support has been spotty, and with the latest drivers for NT and W2K, it appears that they are gaining ground on shaping them up. The ICD is working with more apps/games with every release. Still, NT is not where it needs to be, but it is getting better.

Tin Yau Lau

[PaulS]

Tylau,

You should get a job with Matrox's marketing department, they enjoy re-writing history also.

Even Haig admitted that Matrox was amazed at how quickly the Linux community was able to get fast, stable OpenGL drivers up and running. They managed, in weeks, to do something that took Matrox months.

Linux is an embarrasing example of how well developers outside of Matrox can write drivers for Matrox cards, little wonder they decided to associate themselves with the project.

Paul