Video cards, Xinerama, and IC design tools.

[Ken D'Ambrosio]

Hi, all.  Through no fault of my own, I've suddenly had the title "CAD
tools manager" appanded to my name.  This makes me sad.   But, regardless
of my feelings on the matter, I've got some Linux-based challenges, and am
running into some problems.

Currently, our ASIC crew runs on getting-older HP/UX machines, and we're
making a push for Linux: on a per-CPU basis, it's a LOT cheaper.

However.

The engineers, by and large, are running in dual-head single-desktop mode
(a la "Xinerama" under Linux).  I went through hell and high water to get
a combination that a) worked well, and b) worked well at 24 bits in
1600x1200 mode.  This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. 
Unfortunately, when I was done, and the engineers kicked the tires, it was
s-l-o-w.  I mean, this 3.06 GHz machine was made to run at something like
1/3 the apparent speed of the 552 MHz HPs.  The video cards were decent,
but not great.  Singly, they work pretty well.  So: does anyone have any
suggestions for video cards that work well, and FAST, in dual-head mode? 
Preferably one video card (akin to the Matrox G-450, which didn't work). 
Price, while something to consider, is not a particular obstacle.  OTOH, I
don't want to go buying high-end video cards willy-nilly in the hopes that
I hit paydirt.  I have asked this question (or a similar one, at least) of
the XFree86 list, and got the "Sounds of Silence" in return.

Thanks much for any input/direction/etc.,

Ken D'Ambrosio
Sr. SysAdmin,
Xanoptix, Inc.