The Deep End | Paul Venezia » ATI's OS Confusion

January 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

ATI's OS Confusion

TAGS: Gear

The other day, I had to pick up a cheap PCI-X graphics card to add a third monitor to an Apple PowerMac G5. I also had to get a few other items, so I went to PC Connection's website and used their granular search feature to find all Mac-compatible PCI graphics cards. Admittedly, I wasn't paying terribly close attention to the specs of the card, but the ATI Radeon 7000-series card I purchased was in the Mac category, and was only around $45, so I picked it up. Of course, it's not Mac-compatible -- or at least ATI hasn't released drivers for it. It's detected in the system, but unusable. Time for an RMA.

Then, I looked closely at the box. The text on the outside doesn't say anything about Macs and only lists hardware requirements for PCs, but curiously, all images on the box show a desktop that's clearly Mac OS X. Even more bizarrely, the background image on those desktops is the default Windows XP "meadow" scene. And if that wasn't enough, the system pictured to the right of the twin widescreen flat panels on the front of the box is apparently the rear view of a 286 or 386. Note the AT keyboard connector, eight slots, and the old-school power supply.

So what exactly is ATI trying to tell us with this image? Ostensibly, this card will work in a 386 running OS X with Windows XP floating around somewhere. Click the image for the closeup.

Posted by Paul Venezia on January 14, 2007 09:45 AM

RATE THIS ARTICLE: