hooking multiple monitors for XP Prof--what is best solution

Hi, habari
I just bought XP Pro awhile back myself with a new 120 gig hard drive but haven't installed them yet. Waiting for the first service release.
As far as cards for multiple monitors go the best ones I know of are made by Appian Graphics http://www.appian.com/. They make state of the art graphics cards for graphics professionals, financial traders, video editors, designers, engineers, etc. The one I have used now for several years and works great is the Appian Jeronimo™ Pro http://www.appian.com/products/legacy/jeropro.html
It runs four monitors from one PCI slot.
It has up to 32MB SGRAM and four 64-bit accelerators.
They have newer models that are a little less expensive and I would suggest calling them to ask their opinion about which model would best suit your needs. Good luck to you.
BCE
 
Thank you for everyone's input. After due research, Appian Rushmore looks like the best 4-port deal for those running Windows XP.

Appian Geronimo is a couple of generations older--Rushmore it is.

About $520 street, retail $599 plus shipping/handling.

About $200 saving over comparable Matrox.

I have ordered it and will post on performance in about 10 days.

Thanks again and let's continue individual input.

Habari
 
Sounds like a very good choice Habari. My Jeronimo™ Pro cost $900 in '99. Let us know how it does. I'm sure you'll love it. They have drivers for Win XP on their website. Think it's the same one as the Win 2K one.
By the way, just found out that the first service pack for Windows XP is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/servicepacks/sp1/default.asp I was waiting for this and can now go ahead and do the install. Good luck.
BCE
PS Here's a website comparing the pros and cons of various Windows systems. http://www.annoyances.org Good name. :)
 
habari,

I too made the same choice and logical conclusion, but only 6 months ago when the choices were less (You have 2 more choices today).

Unfortunately, Rushmore and my system didn't match. FYI, Viewsonic VG191 (19"LCD) is not compatible with the card when running digital mode. Shuttle Apollo AV40 (using ViaP4x266 chipset) is not compatible. I have used these equiptment on ATI radeon 7500 and Matrox G450 without incident. (System is a P4 1.6, 512DDR Ram)

Now going on to the crap drivers they make for XP. Firstly, you cannot go to Standby or Hibernate. Why? Cause the drivers are not ready ie, they are crap. Yeah, we're talking about the 1.08 drivers available today. At the time I was using it, there were no desktop features available (might have been 1.03). In any case, some desktop features are still not available on 1.08, namely the rotate feature.

Will they improve their drivers, I would assume so. But I didn't spend all this money to be a guinnie pig. I spent and lost countless hours troubleshooting the card. Did you know that on the first batch of the cards, the thick Y cables did not fit the nuts on the card. That's what I mean by being the guinnie pig.

The card is going back to Appian themselves for a full refund since it's been 6 months of waiting for drivers (there wasn't even XP drivers when I got the card, contrary to what was advertised; and no, W2k drivers are not the same as the XP driver on the Rushmore according to Appian Tech. Look at the version number, you'll see. I am now using 2 Matrox G200MMS and very happy.

If I had to do it all over again today, I would be waiting for the Matrox G450x4. Matrox makes and designs the cards and drivers. Top to bottom, they have full control. Check tech support on Matrox, you post a question, it gets answered the same day. Try that with Appian. It's sometimes good, most times bad (when calling); they don't have a message board. Market share, Matrox has about 70% market share of multi monitor market. They rule the financial desk the big boys use.

It is my speculation that Appian will be out of business in the near future, maybe 2 years; or most likely, bought over by ATI. Dual head cards are now common place, and as such, these niche multi monitors companies have to move up to the quad cards as their core target market. But now, there too the competition is on the rise. New Matrox 450x4 out this month. Nvidia quad cards out this summer. These two competitor have a larger product range to survive by, Appian does not, they are getting cornered. Just one man's speculation; if it were a stock, I'd be shorting it.

I wish I could have read what I just wrote six months back and save myself money and aggravation. Best of luck to you.
 
I have been using an Appian Jeronimo Pro Quad card since late '99 and it works great. I have Windows 98 SE on my machine now but just bought Windows XP Pro and a new hard drive as I previously mentioned. Just wondering if anyone else is using this card with Windows XP Pro and if you're using the 1.07 driver which was designed for Windows 2000 and if you've had any problems at all. Appian said they're not going to be doing a driver for Windows XP for the Jeronimo Pro and told me to use this one instead. Certainly hope it will work correctly. Thanks for your help.
BCE
PS My computer is a late '99 Dell with 500 mhz PIII Processor 384 megs of ram and as I mentioned I'm installing a 120 gig 8 Mb buffer Western Digital hard drive and I'm using one 20" Sony and two 19" LG Electronics CRT monitors.
 
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