You heard that right, an entire GPU crammed into a compact PCMCIA card. What looks like an unassuming adapter for PowerBooks and PCs to hook up an external monitor, turns out to have an entire Trident Cyberblade XP2 chip crammed in there.

Featuring many supported resolutions including up to 2048 x 1280 @60Hz via VGA, 32 MB 266 MHz Gen-1 DDR, and even support for Mac OS 9.2.2 in addition to OS X 10.2.8+, it makes for a highly useful accessory when you’re using a notebook at a desk for work.

What’s inside?

There’s an installation CD tucked into the fold-up information packet, and the box has a slot for this fold-up piece. The box has another box inside it, which resemble the kind you’d receive when you get a new pair of glasses – it even opens the same way. There’s also a DVI-to-VGA adapter inside, which allows for slightly higher screen resolutions than what’s supported over DVI alone.

Unfortunately over the years, even with gentle care there’s no avoiding how the inside holder crumbles apart. Quite dry and brittle. Card and adapter are in remarkable shape. Without much hassle, software installation went without a hitch and this card works in Leopard too.

Card Specs

Under the quick reference guide there’s alot of useful information about the card including: specs, power consumption, how much you can expect it to impact battery life, etc; there’s also listed optional adapters, as well as some caveats.

• Graphics chip: Trident Cyberblade XP2
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• Memory: 32 MB 266 MHz DDR
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• Bus: PCMCIA 32-Bit Cardbus
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• Connectors: PC Card Type II, DVI-I (works w/DVI-A & DVI-D), & VGA w/adapter.
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• Weight: 68 grams
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• Power Consumption: 3W peak, 2W avg, 0W sleep
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• Battery life impact: 4-8% when the notebook is on battery power

What you need to know

• Maximum resolution on VGA: 2048 x 1280@60Hz
  DVI: 1920 x 1200@60Hz
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• Maximum refresh rate: 800 x 600@160Hz
  1280 x 1024@100Hz
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• Works with: Mac OS 9.2.2, Mac OS X 10.2.8+, Windows 2000, and Linux.
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• Multidisplay software not present on: Mac OS 9.2.2 and Linux
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• Display hot-plug support: Mac OS X & Windows only.
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• No graphical hardware acceleration under Leopard, but does not affect other GPUs.
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• You cannot hot-unplug or plug the card in Mac OS X, machine must be powered off.

Using it in Leopard on a Hi-Res G4

When I saw the card pop up on eBay it piqued my curiosity. I’ve always liked the idea of a multi-monitor PowerPC PowerBook productivity station complete with accessories, but alas, space constraints demand for more powerful PowerPC hardware (a Dual 2.0 G5). In any case it was fun to test the card out to see what can be done with it.

I connected the card to my Samsung LC27F591FD which I normally only use with the Power Mac G5, and was delighted to see the FHD resolution shine through – albeit without any graphical hardware acceleration.

There weren’t any weird, uncanny artifacts, glitches, or even any missing colors. It definitely looked as though the card could keep on trucking along in Leopard. If you’ve ever been interested in plugging up and/or using more monitors than a PowerBook could typically handle, then this adapter is for you.

In Conclusion

Maybe you’re a designer, and the extra screen has a static template you’re referencing that takes too much screen real-estate on another monitor. Or you’re a student working on assignments, and there’s less mental strain with fewer overlapping windows blocking the pages you’re trying to research. Perhaps in a building somewhere, an old computer is using one of these to show passerby’s the same train schedule in multiple locations off of multiple displays.

I like stumbling into forgotten oddware like this, it’s stuff like this which makes you do a double-take after finding out what it really is!