When I look online for other ARK1000 cards, I see this PCI variant of the Paradise Bali-32, shown here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/134203149212

It contains the ATT20C490-80, so maybe this is pin-compatible with the existing RAMDAC? Might my ATT20C490-10 work at 1024x768x64k @ 56 Hz? I think there was also an ATT20C490-11 (110 Mhz), but I haven't been able to find one.

I've that same exact card. Id be curious to know the results. Only issue I've had with mine is on one of the LCD monitors I have if left to idle at the command prompt for ahwile the image becomes unstable. IDK why that is. If I switch the card to vesa mode it stabalizes. I dont have the same problem with other computers on that one LCD. That one LCD happends to be made by NEC. Could it not be the card at all and perhaps the monitor?

Not an answer to your question, but my Ark card has the same RAMDAC chip.
Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations

When I find the time, I will try 1024x768 with 64k colours.

Arkk1000VL can do 64k colors at up to 800x600 screen resolution.
If you are ok with 1024x768x256, then this RAMDAC may help you: https://www.questcomp.com/part/4/att20c490-11m44/110195125

That looks like the 110 MHz variant of the AT&T RAMDAC. Do you have this RAMDAC on your ARK1000VL card? What does the 110 MHz variant offer? From your reply, it sounds like it can only add: 1024x768x256c and 1280x1024x256c. Is this correct? Is1024x768x64k confirmed not functional in non-interlaced mode with the 110 MHz RAMDAC?

By the way, it would cost me about $90 to buy that item. See screenshot below.

It was a presumption that it may get you to 1024x768 resolutions.
I have 2 Ark1000VLs - one like your 2theMAX and another one here.
They don't go past 800x600x64K in Windows 3.1.
This suits me, so i didn't investigate higher resolutions at 256 colors.

just swapping DAC wouldnt do much, card needs to know about it. If anything you could try determining the method used (jumper? 0ohm resistor footprint? different bios? ) and fake having faster DAC. overclocked DAC itself wont care other than most likely being too slow so producing bad picture.

In that case, I can try my 100 MHz AT&T RAMDAC. I'll install a PLCC socket.

Anybody have a card that came with the 110 MHz RAMDAC and works at 1280x1024x256c? If so, could you share your BIOS and image of the PCB?

I've attached my 2themax BIOS from 1-3-1995 in case anyone wanted to have a look to see if there is a BIOS dependence for using a faster RAMDAC.

If anyone has a later BIOS, could you share it?

Surgery for the PLCC-44 socket went smoothly.

EDIT:
I have tested the AT&T 20C490-10, 100 MHz RAMDAC, on the ARK1000VL card, but once I try to run 1024x768x64k or 1280x1024x256c, I get an out of range error on the monitor, indicating it is trying to run in 43 Hz interlaced mode. On Windows NT 4.0, I can manually select 43 Hz Interlaced, 56 Hz, 60 Hz, 70 Hz, etc. Even when I select 60 Hz, I get an out-of-range error on the monitor. Connecting the card to my LG LCD, which at least tries to run interlaced mode, I can see the screen flickering all funny and some image distortion. It looks to me as if something on the card or in the BIOS may be forcing interlaced mode, even though I told it 60 Hz, non-interlaced.

Do I really need to 110 MHz RAMDAC to run these tests, or is there more which needs to be done to force non-interlaced mode on this card?

EDIT2:
I looked up what the Chrontel CH9249G-N is. This is the clock generator chip. I probably need to set FS3/FS2/FS1/FS0 to alter the frequency. It is probably set for 1010, which is 80 MHz. The next faster speed is 110 MHz, which is 1100, meaning I need to flip two pads, probably 0-ohm resistors. Hopefully my 100 MHz RAMDAC can cope with 100 MHz. Is this sufficient, or is VGA BIOS modding needed?

EDIT3:
It looks like MS2, MS1, and MS0 all connect to GND, or 000, so they correspond to a memory clock of 55 MHz.

FS3, FS2, FS1, FS0 are not connected to GND and not connected to Vcc. According to the manual, they have internal pull-ups, which implies 1111, and according to the table, mean that the video clock is running at 94.5 MHz. However, I measure FS3, FS2, FS1, and FS0 going to the RAMDAC as well, such that FS3 goes to P3, FS2 goes to P2, FS1 goes to P1, and FS0 goes to P0. P0/P1/P2/P3 are the Pixel Address of the ATT20C490. Datasheet attached.

I'm not sure what to do now... Any ideas? I'm also attaching the latest w95 and nt4 drivers in case the solution lies within there.

feipoa wrote on 2023-07-02, 11:01:

Surgery for the PLCC-44 socket went smoothly. ARK1000VL_RAMDAC_socket.JPG […]
Show full quote

Surgery for the PLCC-44 socket went smoothly.
ARK1000VL_RAMDAC_socket.JPG

EDIT:
I have tested the AT&T 20C490-10, 100 MHz RAMDAC, on the ARK1000VL card, but once I try to run 1024x768x64k or 1280x1024x256c, I get an out of range error on the monitor, indicating it is trying to run in 43 Hz interlaced mode. On Windows NT 4.0, I can manually select 43 Hz Interlaced, 56 Hz, 60 Hz, 70 Hz, etc. Even when I select 60 Hz, I get an out-of-range error on the monitor. Connecting the card to my LG LCD, which at least tries to run interlaced mode, I can see the screen flickering all funny and some image distortion. It looks to me as if something on the card or in the BIOS may be forcing interlaced mode, even though I told it 60 Hz, non-interlaced.
ARK1000VL_with_ATT_20C490-10_RAMDAC.JPG

Do I really need to 110 MHz RAMDAC to run these tests, or is there more which needs to be done to force non-interlaced mode on this card?

EDIT2:
I looked up what the Chrontel CH9249G-N is. This is the clock generator chip. I probably need to set FS3/FS2/FS1/FS0 to alter the frequency. It is probably set for 1010, which is 80 MHz. The next faster speed is 110 MHz, which is 1100, meaning I need to flip two pads, probably 0-ohm resistors. Hopefully my 100 MHz RAMDAC can cope with 100 MHz. Is this sufficient, or is VGA BIOS modding needed?
PLL_on_ARK1000VL_Chrontel_CH9294G-N.PDF

EDIT3:
It looks like MS2, MS1, and MS0 all connect to GND, or 111, so they correspond to a memory clock of 50 MHz.

FS3, FS2, FS1, FS0 are not connected to GND and not connected to Vcc. According to the manual, they have internal pull-ups, which implies 1111, and according to the table, mean that the video clock is running at 94.5 MHz. However, I measure FS3, FS2, FS1, and FS0 going to the RAMDAC as well, such that FS3 goes to P3, FS2 goes to P2, FS1 goes to P1, and FS0 goes to P0. P0/P1/P2/P3 are the Pixel Address of the ATT20C490. Datasheet attached. RAMDAC-ATT20C490.pdf

I'm not sure what to do now... Any ideas? I'm also attaching the latest w95 and nt4 drivers in case the solution lies within there. ARK1000VL_w95_nt4_drivers.zip

Hi,

I tested my Ark Logic again with Win98SE. I think I use the exact same driver you posted here, this "1.29 newer" thing.
So (again) this is the card, also the jumper settings are there:
Re: 3 (+3 more) retro battle stations
There is no jumper setting to switch between interlaced / non interlaced.

I have the exact same behaviour as you.
Both on 1024x768 64k c and 1280x1024 256c, the only option (I checked that with the "Ark Tools" in Control Panel) I can set is: 43(I) => interlaced. My Eizo TFT Monitor cannot do that.

EDIT: In the linked thread I also complained that 1024x768 with 64k c does not work. 🤣, forgot about that.

feipoa wrote on 2023-07-02, 11:01:

It looks like MS2, MS1, and MS0 all connect to GND, or 111, so they correspond to a memory clock of 50 MHz.

FS3, FS2, FS1, FS0 are not connected to GND and not connected to Vcc. According to the manual, they have internal pull-ups, which implies 1111, and according to the table, mean that the video clock is running at 94.5 MHz. However, I measure FS3, FS2, FS1, and FS0 going to the RAMDAC as well, such that FS3 goes to P3, FS2 goes to P2, FS1 goes to P1, and FS0 goes to P0. P0/P1/P2/P3 are the Pixel Address of the ATT20C490.

MS0, MS1 and MS2 all grounded is 55Mhz.

FS0,FS1,FS2 and FS3 are connected to: the clockgenerator, the ARK1000VL chip, the RAMDAC and the VESA connector.
Bottom row the four right most pins. You can use those to program the RAMDAC frequency. Every mode switch the ARK1000VL chip drives the FSn lines and the STROBE line and reprograms the clockgenerator.

I managed to get some interesting results while pulling some of the FSn lines low.

Sorry, it was a late night oversight. I've fixed the post to read 55 MHz.

Should I ground some pins on the PLL to force 110 MHz?

arent they driven by the ARK chip itself? you could start by probing them in different video modes to see if they stay the same of are dynamically programmed

Does anyone have the datasheet for the ARK1000VL chip? I wasn't able to locate it.

feipoa wrote on 2023-07-02, 23:11:

Should I ground some pins on the PLL to force 110 MHz?

No, every VGA resolution and refresh rate combination needs a different frequency. That is why early VGA cards had multiple crystals. Forcing a fixed frequency will cause some modes to go out of spec leading to a 'NO SIGNAL' on the monitor. The setting I used for the screenshot in my previous post could not display the POST screen.
More here: http://tinyvga.com/vga-timing

I hope you noticed that the Paradise BALI 32 uses a ARK1294a clock generator and not a Chrontel CH9294G.

I guess for 1024x768@16b /60Hz to work you will need a combination of BIOS, RAMDAC, Clock generator and driver support. I see the windows 95 driver mentions 1024x768@16b support so that leaves the BIOS, RAMDAC and clock generator. I suppose you could 'borrow' the RAMDAC and clock generator from a suitable PCI ARK1000 card and use the BIOS from a Paradise Bali 32 VL.

Anonymous Coward posted the manual for my Ark VL card.
Re: ARK Logic ARK1000VL VLB video card

When I read it correctly, the 2 MB enable 1280x1024 256 col and 1024x768 64k col.
But later on there is a table stating that both resolutions are only interlaced.
So I can safely remove the second megabyte, it is a similar situation as with Cirrus 542x cards, the second megabyte is useless 🙁

I think that's the case if you have the 80 MHz RAMDAC. The 2themax manual specifically states 2MB & 110 MHz allows for 1280x1024x256c non-interlaced.

feipoa wrote on 2023-07-04, 20:26:

I think that's the case if you have the 80 MHz RAMDAC. The 2themax manual specifically states 2MB & 110 MHz allows for 1280x1024x256c non-interlaced.

Yes, but 1024 x 768 65000 col. should / could work also with a 80MHz RAMDAC. Am I correct?