This would not be the first card that cloned the pinout of the Trio64/V+, although it is a completely different card. There also is the Sigma Designs Inc. REALmagix64/GX with that pinout. Everyone and his dog and their cats already had Trio64/V+ graphics card PCB designs already at hand, so producing a chip with a compatible pinout significantly eased entering the PC graphics card market.

Having S3 printed on the silkscreen doesn't necessarily mean the chip in the card is either made by S3 nor software compatible to any S3 graphics chip.

I have one, those are pretty normal SVGA cards, not fast nor great. Will search it and publish some information when I find them (having a large collection is sometimes a problem)

mkarcher wrote on 2022-10-15, 14:24:

This would not be the first card that cloned the pinout of the Trio64/V+, although it is a completely different card. There also is the Sigma Designs Inc. REALmagix64/GX with that pinout. Everyone and his dog and their cats already had Trio64/V+ graphics card PCB designs already at hand, so producing a chip with a compatible pinout significantly eased entering the PC graphics card market.

Having S3 printed on the silkscreen doesn't necessarily mean the chip in the card is either made by S3 nor software compatible to any S3 graphics chip.

Kinda odd that ALi would have the S3 logo printed like that - they must've got some permission from S3 to use it, I guess. If I get one I'd be happy to give it to someone to delid it and see what's about that pin compatibility.
Huge thanks for that REALmagix64 - i didn't know about that card either 😀 I've been meaning to collect and benchmark all of those less-popular PCI 2D cards and benchmark them, but it's a waiting game more than anything. I got some stranger cards already, like the ExpertColor T2000 or Sierra Falcon 64. That said, again, I have never come across an ALiCAT card - maybe it was offered only in some select markets.

ViTi95 wrote on 2022-10-15, 17:51:

I have one, those are pretty normal SVGA cards, not fast nor great. Will search it and pu lish some information when I find them (having a large collection is sometimes a problem)

If you got time - definitely please do 😀 If I may ask - how did you come into possesion of this card?

kikipcs wrote on 2022-10-16, 12:31:

Kinda odd that ALi would have the S3 logo printed like that - they must've got some permission from S3 to use it, I guess. If I get one I'd be happy to give it to someone to delid it and see what's about that pin compatibility.

You might be overthinking it. We don't know whether this card is actually produced by ALi, or just a cheap OEM card that uses a graphics chip by ALi. I'd explain the combination of the S3 logo and the ALiCAT logo by the manufacturer of that card just picking their cheap OEM Trio64/V+ design, adding ALiCAT in the top left corner and re-spin PCB production for the ALi graphics cards. In this case, the S3 logo and text would just be an accidental oversight and not something to research for. Take a look at the original ALiCAT II card that has excatly the same PCB, but a slightly different silkscreen at https://wiki.preterhuman.net/images/4/43/Alicatii1.jpg . And to add to the confusion: Someone seems to have mounted a Trio64/V+ on an ALiCAT branded PCB like the one you linked: http://www.vgamuseum.info/images/palcal/s3/28 … ucat_top_hq.jpg .

I have this interesting video card in my retro pc. I dont remember where I got this pc. I remember using it as router 10 years ago. But before that, dont remember.

I cant find drivers for it. I tried S3 trio 64v+ drivers, but no luck. Here are some pictures from hwinfo.

b0by007 wrote on 2022-11-01, 22:58:

I cant find drivers for it. I tried S3 trio 64v+ drivers, but no luck. Here are some pictures from hwinfo.

https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … driverid=150655 seems to contain a Windows 95/98 driver for that card without obvious adware included. Click the file name, not the big green download button. Googling for "ali m3147" reports a lot of hits that can be used as clues to find a driver for other operating systems.

The drivers worked like a charm.
Now I can enjoy 800x600 at true color (24bit).
Many thanks man.