I like that this board has 72-pin and 30-pin SIMMs. Seems appropriate for the generation. But what I really noticed is what looks to be solder pads for the [missing] PS/2 mouse header. I would bet this board can be adapted for native PS/2 mouse support and if so, would make an interesting contender to the loved Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4. Very few non-OEM 486 boards which are VLB/ISA-only have ps/2 mouse support. And since the board has an AWARD BIOS, it is straight-forward to add the PS/2 mouse support in the BIOS. Also interesting is that little CMOS battery and the non-DIP real-time clock.

I hope you are able to get it working. Sorry I cannot help in this regard. Seems odd that the GAL is missing.

Maybe someone re-purposed the GAL since they can be erased/written again

I have a J435 vlb/isa mobo with VIA VT82C406/VT82C496G chipset and Award BIOS: all I had to do was solder the PS2 mouse header and it worked without any extra steps.
It would be awesome if the board could support the Am5x86 cpu but nope... it just stares back at you without any signs of life...

edit: 🤣 here it is Help identifying VIA ISA/VLB 486 mobo

Yeah!

the seller found the missing GAL in his drawer. I'll pick up the board tomorrow and see how it performs.

I wonder what this chipset is capable of, compared to, say, SIS.

I'll try to get the PS/2 connector working and let you know. I have luck for those 486 boards with PS/2 capabilities. All of mine have it (ASUS VL/I-486SVGO, A-TREND 1425B, ZIDA Tomato).

^ nice!