best new video cards for linux?

[mark at buttery.org (Mark J. Dulcey)]

Bob Keyes wrote:
> Hello all,
> I am at work at a biomedical research lab, and the video card on one of
> the machines crapped out. This is a machine that is dual boot linux /
> win98, a Dell Deminsion XPS B733 (733 mhz). The X windows has never been
> configured adequately, I believe it is some wierd compatibility problem.
> So I am looking for advice on a video card up to $100, that offers good
> resolution, 2D reasonable performnce, but doesn't need to be a great 3D
> card. It should have good accurate color though. It should be easy to get
> running in its high performance under redhat9 and work well with win98 as
> well (though I may try to get them to switch the windows side to win2k, as
> they have a spare license for it..win2k has always seemed like the least
> horrible MS-Windows product).
> 
> Any info would be appreciated, ether on what works well or what was
> painful or what just isn't supported under X.

The best available performance under Linux right now is with the nVidia 
cards, mostly because the manufacturer supplies drivers for them. On the 
other hand, said drivers are not open-source, so future support of older 
cards could be an issue down the road. Various GeForce4 cards will be in 
your price range. The newer GeForce FX cards are still over $100 right now.

The other good choice is the ATI Radeon series. The Linux drivers don't 
offer the same high performance (though this mostly matters for 3D 
stuff, not 2D), but they are open-source, and older ATI cards remain 
well supported. You can go for a Radeon 7000 in the $50-70 class, or go 
for a Radeon 9000 in the $100 neighborhood. If you care about TV output 
(you didn't mention it), you'll want an ATI card; they have much better 
video outputs than nVidia cards do.