so yea i did get the other card installed and it seems to work, but i have had trouble getting the 2nd video card to show anything but 1024x768 as an option.. there is only "recommended" no "all" option.
When I copied over the drivers from this page
http://howfunkel.com/ and drag them over (i had to extract the hqx file since i didn't have a native OS9 app to unzip these) but it made a folder of files.. more than 6-9 files.. but when i did it.. it messed things up again..
but another OSX reboot as instructed and i was back in business.. so yea at this point it feels like using the drivers provided a the link are bad as they mess up the Rage 128.. so anyway it's minor for now since i don't have room for a dual monitor setup in the music studio.. too much other gear competing for precious table space..
Thanks for the tip on the card.. i'm not doing any 3d gaming and such so the rage is plenty for me.. and i only have one agp slot so replacing it seems like a bad idea, unless you're saying cards like the 8500 themselves do support dual monitor from that single card. That could be a game changer.
Thanks,
Caleb