[ydl-gen] Radeon X850 support?

[Mike Erwin]

> I'm assuming (and this is an assumption) that you checked themacelite
> wiki before you purchased/acquired the card to verify that there is in
> fact a working PPC ROM for that model?

Their resources were very valuable when selecting a card. Was going
for a 9800 before learning about its big brother. Went out on a limb
and got the unsupported card with full knowledge that this would be
difficult! So far, there is no (un)official X850 PowerPC firmware from
themacelite that fits in the more common 64K ROM chip, but the
existence of drivers on the Mac OS X side (once a working ROM is in
place) and occasional reports of flashed cards working in "the wild"
are encouraging.

> If the ROM for the X850XT from themacelite doesn't work, unless you've
> got another one hidden somewhere that you know works, YDL
> compatibilities will be far from the forefront in terms of hurdles to
> overcome in getting that card working with the PowerMac and YDL.

No, I don't yet have a working ROM image, and the few individuals
claiming theirs work haven't gotten back to me, but it's early.
Working through themacelite's step-by-step reduction method from
latest 128K ROM still left me with a black screen. Catching even a
halfway-working ROM image would be a great first step, but I aim for
full support (both outputs, proper fan control, etc.). At this point
I'm looking for more information about creating fresh firmware instead
of hacking chunks out of the original one. Who wrote the bits for the
PowerStation's graphics card? And is SLOF very different from the
PowerMac OF?

So yes, hurdles aplenty!

Mike Erwin
musician, naturalist, pixel pusher, hacker extraordinaire