IIgs Rom 1 vs Rom 3

From: Tom Owad <owad_at_applefritter.com>
Date: Tue Jan 29 17:16:32 2002

>> What is the difference between a Rom 1 and a Rom 3 Apple IIgs?
>
>Bug fixes (which affect mostly GS/OS) and I don't think ROM 01 GSes can
>netboot.
>
>> I would guess they are Rom 1 and Rom 3 machines (I can tell by booting
>> them right? the starting splash tells me? or how is it determined?).
>
>The startup screen says, yes. ROM 0 GSes don't say anything.
>
>Paging Tom Owad to verify this ... :-)

;)

I'm going to be cowardly and just quote apple2history.org:

"In September 1987 Apple made an incremental improvement to the IIGS with
the release of a new ROM. The ROM 01 revision made a few changes in the
original IIGS ROMs and included an improved video controller chip. Bugs
in the ROM code were fixed, and a problem with a "pink fringe" effect
with certain graphics displays was fixed. The new ROMs were not
compatible with any IIGS System Disks earlier than version 2.0. The new
ROM was identified by a message at the bottom of the screen when booting
the IIGS that said "ROM Version 01". The original IIGS had no message in
this location.[6]

"The next change came with the release of the ROM 03 version of the IIGS
in August of 1989. This new IIGS computer came standard with 1 meg of RAM
on the motherboard, and twice as much ROM (256K versus 128K on the older
IIGS). This allowed more of the operating system to be in ROM, rather
than having to be loaded from disk when booting. Additionally, fixes were
made to known bugs in the ROM 01 firmware. (The latest version of the
IIGS system software made patches to ROM 01 to fix those bugs, but these
patches still had to be loaded from disk, which slowed startup time.
Having the latest new tools and fixed new ones already in ROM made
booting the version 03 IIGS a bit quicker). The new Apple IIGS also had
the capability of using both the internal slot firmware as well as using
a peripheral card plugged into a slot. The ROM 01 IIGS could, of course,
use cards plugged into the slots, but only at the expense of being unable
to use the internal firmware for that slot. With so much useful system
firmware built-in, a ROM 01 user who wanted, for example, to add a
controller card for a hard disk would have to give up either AppleTalk in
slot 7 or use of 5.25 disks in slot 6. Almost everything else had to be
set in the control panel to the internal firmware.

"The ROM 03 IIGS also included enhancements for disabled users. A feature
called "sticky keys" made it possible to do multiple keypresses. (To
execute an "Option-Control-X" sequence, for example, required pressing
three keys at once. This was something that a paralyzed user with a
mouth-stick to press keys could not previously do). Also, more things
that had required a mouse now had keyboard equivalents (using the
keypad). The new IIGS also had somewhat "cleaner" sound and graphics.
However, because the improvements made were minimal compared to the cost
of providing upgrades to previous owners, no upgrade program was
announced by Apple. In any case, many of the new features could be
obtained on older IIGS's by upgrading the memory to at least one megabyte
and using GS/OS System Software 5.0.2 or greater.[7]

"A feature that was added to the ROM 03 firmware that was entirely fun,
instead of functional, was accessed by a specific key-sequence. If the
computer was booted with no disk in the drive, a message that said "Check
startup device" appeared, with an apple symbol sliding back and forth. At
that point, if the user pressed the keys "Ctrl", "Open Apple", "Option",
and "N" simultaneously, the digitized voices of the Apple IIGS design
team could be heard shouting "Apple II!" Also, the names of those people
would be displayed on the screen. If running GS/OS System 5.0 or greater,
the user would have to hold down the "Option" and "Shift" keys, then pull
down the "About" menu in the Finder. It would then say "About the
System". Using the mouse to click on that title would cause the names to
be displayed and the audio message to be heard."


Applefritter
www.applefritter.com
Received on Tue Jan 29 2002 - 17:16:32 GMT