<windows.lovers******.com> wrote in message
news:1194117949.789013.111910@y42g2000hsy.googlegr oups.com...

> We have a number of PC's that use the Matrox Millenium cards with the
> MGA-2164W chipset and screen resolution upto 1200x1600. These are
> excellent hardwares. . . .
> The question is this: Is there a way to get these hardwares working in
> the newer OS's just as they worked on NT4.0 ? Specifically, the market
> has a lot of older cards floating around, and people are still using
> these cards.

Yes, if neither MS nor the hardware manufacturer does not provide
drivers for MS Vista you can write your own drivers, if dissatisfied
with Vista compatibility or legacy procedures, and if you buy the
necessary information from MS

> We know that Linux can make use of ANY of these video cards and make
> them work to the best performance under X windows.

Have you not just answered your own question?

> Each monitor thrown away, each video card thrown
> away just because a driver was not available or software was not
> supporting its basic feature is contribution to global warming. The
> processes to make these cards were not only energy intensive but
> highly polluting.

If you want to make a calculus of the carbon cost of (say) my
upstairs CRT monitor, just discarded after approx. 15 years'
use, you have to offset the date when that "contribution to global
warming" was made (Japan approx. 1970) and compare the net
cost with that of the replacement unit (Dutch-made approx. 2000,
also CRT) and quantify also the difference in video quality as well
as manufacture and operating costs of LED technology, so far
not installed. Such methods should work for people who
rationally prefer "trailing edge" hardware (oldest and cheapest
fit for the planned purpose) as well as new customers, i.e.
would be a valuable service to "Windows lovers."

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)