VOGONS


First post, by Physikant

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hey guys,
I'm trying to find the best DOS 2D graphics card and thanks to gona's fantastic list, I found that the S3 Trio64V2/DX is somehow the best option: highly compatible and VESA 2.0 capable.
Now I bought such a card. It's manufactured by a company called Cardex. I chose that onr because it has a VRAM upgrade option and a socketed VBIOS.
Now I wanted to upgrade my VBIOS to a newer, VESA2.0 capable version. Sadly, it is one time porgrammable, but buying a EPROM and programming it can't be that hard, right?

Now my questions:
- Is it even possible to switch VBIOS-versions between different manufacturers of this card?
- Are there different versions of the Trio64V2/DX that need different VBIOS-versions?
- Is there some place where I can find the newest/best VBIOS for my card?

Best regards,
Niko

Reply 1 of 1, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Physikant wrote on 2022-06-13, 11:41:

- Is it even possible to switch VBIOS-versions between different manufacturers of this card?

Yes, as long as the BIOS is compatible with the S3 Trio64V2/DX.

- Are there different versions of the Trio64V2/DX that need different VBIOS-versions?

AFAIK, there are some ELSA-branded BIOS for their S3 Trio64V2/DX video card but they can work with the S3 reference BIOS.

- Is there some place where I can find the newest/best VBIOS for my card?

Gona's DOS compatibility list for PCI and AGP video cards has some S3 BIOS images available. Just find S3 Trio64V2/DX and download the one that has VBE 2.0.

If you have a motherboard that uses an Intel Triton (430FX, HX, VX or TX) or SiS 496/497 chipset, you could test BIOS images with SVBL (Shadow Video BIOS Loader) before attempting to program a new EPROM chip.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS