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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac OS X > Will UNIX video drivers work in OS X?

Will UNIX video drivers work in OS X?
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olePigeon
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Feb 2, 2007, 11:43 PM
 
I noticed that UNIX and Linux drivers have been been developed to support 3dfx video cards for a while now. Anyone know if the BSD 3dfx drivers would work in OS X? Or would there be complications with OS X's windowing system versus using X11, Gnome, etc?

While I'm saving money up for a new laptop, I'm using a 400MHz G4 tower. It has a 16MB ATI card, but I'd much rather use my 32MB Voodoo3 3000 card.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
P
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Feb 3, 2007, 06:58 AM
 
Those drivers are for the X11 display system, not for Linux or *BSD per se. For Linux there exists a method (DRI) in the kernel to get direct access to the GPU, but in general, the actual operating systems don't bother with the graphics board.

The driver model for X11 is completely incompatible with the IOKit model used by OS X, and I'm not aware of any attempts to port an X11 driver to OS X.
     
Big Mac
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Feb 5, 2007, 11:15 AM
 
Yup, IOKit is different from what you find in regular Unixes. A programmer could probably port such drivers with relative ease, though.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
   
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