1. Supported hardware

The current S3 Server supports the following S3 chipsets: 911, 924, 801/805, 928, 732 (Trio32), 764, 765, 775, 785 (Trio64*), 864, 868, 964, 968 and M65 (Aurora64V+). The S3 server will also recognise the 866, but it has not been tested with this chipset. If you have any problems or success with these, please report it to us.

Nevertheless, this is not enough to support every board using one of these chipsets. The following list contains some data points on boards that are known to work. If your card is similar to one of the described ones, chances are good it might work for you, too.

S3 801/805, AT&T 20C490 (or similar) RAMDAC

• Orchid Fahrenheit 1280+ VLB
• Actix GE32

8 and 15/16 bpp

Note: Real AT&T20C490 RAMDACs should be automatically detected by the server. For others which are compatible, you need to provide a `Ramdac "att20c490"' entry in your XF86Config.

Real AT&T 20C490 or 20C491 RAMDACs work with the "dac_8_bit" option. Some clones (like the Winbond 82C490) do not.

The Orchid Fahrenheit 1280+ VLB may require `Option "nolinear"'.

S3 805 VLB, S3 GENDAC (RAMDAC + clock synthesizer)

• MIRO 10SD (available for VLB and PCI) It is not known whether all 10SDs use the S3 GENDAC.

8 and 15/16 bpp

 ClockChip "s3gendac"
 RamDac    "s3gendac"
 

S3 801/805, AT&T 20C490 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• STB PowerGraph X.24 S3 (ISA)

8 and 15/16 bpp

Note: Real AT&T20C490 RAMDACs should be automatically detected by the server. For others which are compatible, you need to provide a `Ramdac "att20c490"' entry in your XF86Config.

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 RamDac    "att20c490"
 Option    "dac_8_bit
 

S3 805, Diamond SS2410 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• Diamond Stealth 24 VLB

8 and 15bpp(*) only.

requires `Option "nolinear"'

(*) The SS2410 RAMDAC is reportedly compatible with the AT&T20C490 in 15bpp mode. To make the server treat it as an AT&T20C490, you need to provide a `Ramdac "att20c490"' entry in your XF86Config.

S3 801/805, Chrontel 8391 Clockchip/Ramdac

• JAX 8241
• SPEA Mirage

8 and 15/16 bpp.

The 8391 is compatible with the AT&T 20C490 RAMDAC

 ClockChip "ch8391"
 Ramdac    "ch8391"
 Option    "dac_8_bit"
 

S3 928, AT&T 20C490 RAMDAC

• Actix Ultra

8 and 15/16 bpp

Note: Real AT&T20C490 RAMDACs should be automatically detected by the server. For others which are compatible, you need to provide a `Ramdac "att20c490"' entry in your XF86Config. Also, the server's RAMDAC probe reportedly causes problems with some of these boards, and a RamDac entry should be used to avoid the probe.

Real AT&T 20C490 or 20C491 RAMDACs work with the "dac_8_bit" option. Some clones (like the Winbond 82C490) do not.

S3 928, Sierra SC15025 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• ELSA Winner 1000 ISA/EISA (``TwinBus'', not Winner1000ISA!!)
• ELSA Winner 1000 VL

8, 15/16 and 24(32) bpp

Supports 8bit/pixel RGB in 8bpp and gamma correction for 15/16 and 24bpp modes

24 bpp might get ``snowy'' if the clock is near the limit of 30MHz. This is not considered dangerous, but limits the usability of 24 bpp.

D-step (or below) chips cannot be used with a line width of 1152; hence the most effective mode for a 1 MB board is about 1088x800x8 (similar to 2 MB, 1088x800x16).

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 

S3 928, Bt9485 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• STB Pegasus VL

8, 15/16 and 24(32) bpp

Supports RGB with sync-on-green if "sync_on_green" option is provided and board jumper is set for BNC outputs.

VLB linear addressing now occurs at 0x7FCxxxxx so that 64MB or more main memory can be supported without losing linear frame buffer access.

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 Option    "stb_pegasus"
 

S3 928, Bt485 RAMDAC, SC11412 Clockchip

• SPEA Mercury 2MB VL

8, 15/16 and 24(32) bpp

 ClockChip "SC11412"
 Option    "SPEA_Mercury"
 

S3 928, Bt485 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• #9 GXE Level 10, 11, 12

8, 15/16 and 24(32) bpp

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 Option    "number_nine"
 

S3 928, Ti3020 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• #9 GXE Level 14, 16

8, 15/16 and 24(32) bpp

Supports RGB with sync-on-green

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 Option    "number_nine"
 

S3 864, AT&T20C498, ICS2494 Clockchip

• MIRO 20SD (BIOS 1.xx)

The ICS2494 is a fixed frequency clockchip, you have to use X -probeonly (without a Clocks line in XF86Config) to get the correct clock values.

8, 15/16 and 24(32) bpp

S3 864, AT&T20C498 or STG1700 RAMDAC, ICD2061A or ICS9161 Clockchip

• Elsa Winner1000PRO VLB
• Elsa Winner1000PRO PCI
• MIRO 20SD (BIOS 2.xx)
• Actix GraphicsENGINE 64 VLB/2MB

8, 15/16 and 24(32) bpp

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 

S3 864, 20C498 or 21C498 RAMDAC, ICS2595 Clockchip

• SPEA MirageP64 2MB DRAM (BIOS 3.xx)

8, 15/16 and 24(32) bpp

Clockchip support is still sometimes flaky and on some machines problems with the first mode after startup of XF86_S3 or after switching back from VT have been seen; switching to next mode with CTRL+ALT+``KP+'' and back seems to solve this problem.

Interlaced modes don't work correctly.

Mirage P64 with BIOS 4.xx uses the S3 SDAC.

 ClockChip "ics2595"
 

S3 864, S3 86C716 SDAC RAMDAC and Clockchip

• Elsa Winner1000PRO
• MIRO 20SD (BIOS 3.xx)
• SPEA MirageP64 2MB DRAM (BIOS 4.xx)
• Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM

8, 15/16 and 24 bpp

S3 864, ICS5342 RAMDAC and Clockchip

• Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM (only some cards)

8, 15/16 and 24 bpp

 ClockChip "ics5342"
 Ramdac    "ics5342"
 

S3 864, AT&T21C498-13 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• #9 GXE64 - PCI

8, 15/16, 24(32) bpp

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 Option    "number_nine"
 

S3 964, AT&T 20C505 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• Miro Crystal 20SV

8, 15/16, 24(32) bpp

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 Ramdac    "att20c505"
 

S3 964, Bt485 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• Diamond Stealth 64

8, 15/16, 24(32) bpp

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 

S3 964, Bt9485 or AT&T 20C505 RAMDAC, ICS9161a Clockchip

• SPEA Mercury 64

8, 15/16, 24(32) bpp

 ClockChip "ics9161a"
 Option    "SPEA_Mercury"
 

S3 964, Ti3020 RAMDAC, ICD2061A Clockchip

• Elsa Winner2000PRO PCI

8, 15/16, 24(32) bpp

 ClockChip "icd2061a"
 

S3 964, Ti3025 RAMDAC, Ti3025 Clockchip

• Miro Crystal 40SV
• #9 GXE64 Pro VLB
• #9 GXE64 Pro PCI

8 bpp, 15, 16 and 24(32) bpp

There are some known problems with the GXE64 Pro support, including some image shifting/wrapping at 15/16/24 bpp.

We have found that #9 no longer support the GXE64 Pro at 1600x1200. They do however have a new (and more expensive) board called the GXE64Pro-1600 which uses a 220MHz RAMDAC instead of 135MHz part used on the other boards.

S3 764 (Trio64)

• SPEA Mirage P64 (BIOS 5.xx)
• Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM
• #9 GXE64 Trio64

8/15/16/24 bpp

Note: The Trio64 has a builtin RAMDAC and clockchip, so the server should work with all Trio64 cards, and there is no need to specify the RAMDAC or clockchip in the XF86Config file.

S3 732 (Trio32)

• Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM SE

8/15/16/24 bpp

Note: The Trio32 has a builtin RAMDAC and clockchip, so the server should work with all Trio32 cards, and there is no need to specify the RAMDAC or clockchip in the XF86Config file.

S3 868, S3 86C716 SDAC RAMDAC and Clockchip

• ELSA Winner 1000AVI
• Diamond Stealth Video DRAM

8/15/16/24 bpp

S3 868, AT&T 20C409 RAMDAC and Clockchip

• ELSA Winner 1000AVI

8/15/16/24 bpp

Note: pixelmultiplexing is not supported yet, therefore limited maximum dot clock for 8bpp (currently 67.5MHz, should be changed to 100MHz if pixmux isn't fixed prior to release)

S3 968, Ti3026 RAMDAC, Ti3026 Clockchip

• Elsa Winner 2000PRO/X-2 and /X-4 (Revsions <= F)
• Elsa Winner 2000AVI-2 and -4
• Diamond Stealth 64 VIDEO VRAM

8/15/16/24 bpp

S3 968, Ti3026 RAMDAC, ICS9161A Clockchip

• Elsa Winner 2000PRO/X-2 and /X-4 (Revision G)

8/15/16/24 bpp

Note: clock doubling doesn't work, yet, therefore the maximum usable dot clock is limited to about 120MHz.

S3 964, IBM RGB 514/524/525/528 RAMDAC & Clockchip

• Hercules Graphics Terminator 64

8/15/16/24 bpp

 s3RefClk   50
 DACspeed  170
 Option  "slow_vram"
 

S3 968, IBM RGB 514/524/525/528 RAMDAC & Clockchip

• Genoa Genoa VideoBlitz III AV

   s3RefClk   50
   DACspeed  170
   
  

• Hercules Graphics Terminator Pro 64

   s3RefClk   16
   DACspeed  220
   
  

  This card may require the line:

          Invert_VCLK "*" 0
   
  

  in each Display subsection.
• STB Velocity 64

   s3RefClk   24
   DACspeed  220
   
  

• Number Nine FX Motion 771

   s3RefClk   16
   DACspeed  220
   
  

  This card may require the line:

   Invert_VCLK "*" 0
   
  

  in each Display subsection.
• MIRO 80SV

   s3RefClk   16
   DACspeed  250
   
  

8/15/16/24 bpp

ELSA Winner 2000PRO/X-8 (S3 968, 8MB VRAM, 220MHz for 32bpp)

The server has only been tested for "revision C" of this card (guess the serial number should start with C, but not sure since mine says Ser.No. A-0000.000.000;) which have an IBM RGB528A note the A; can't be probed though)

depending on the mode line etc there may be some display distortions like:

1. many long horizontal lines/stripes
2. pixel jitter or short horizontal stripes like snow all over the screen
3. Like 2., but only when doing graphics ops (like opaque move of windows).
4. additional pixel at the left display edge and some missing pixels at the right edge.

All of these problems can be fixed by small adjustments to the mode line (best to run `xvidtune' and make these adjustments interactively). E.g., for the first three problems, shift the display left or right a few steps. For the last problem, increasing HSyncEnd (making the hsync pulse longer) solves the problem. In some cases, a significant increase in the sync pulse width is needed, and rarely, it needs to be shortened (by decreasing HSyncEnd).

In rare cases, InvertVCLK and/or EarlySC may need to be adjusted, followed by an adjustment of BlankDelay (see the bottom line of xvidtune).

If you see any of these problems, please contact koenig@XFree86.org, and send details of:

• Original mode showing the problem,
• Tuned/fixed mode, including all flags from the bottom line of xvidtune,
• Colour depth used for this tuned mode line,
• Full server startup output.