Re: A Few Q's Before I Take the Plunge

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Jason Rein <uhmblittSPAMICIDE@earthlink.net> wrote:

> What kind of quality can I expect if I were to hook the IIgs up to a TV?
> I'm trying to save space by not purchasing a monitor.

I've used a TV with my IIgs on occasions.  When my RGB monitor stopped
working, I switched to a composite monochrome monitor, but used a TV on
the occasions when I wanted colour.

The main problem is that the TV doesn't have sufficient horizontal
bandwidth to be able to display high resolution text and graphics modes
very well.  40 column text is OK, but 80 column text is very blurry;
there are similar effects for monochrome double hi-res graphics mode and
for super hi-res graphics mode when using 640 pixels per line (e.g. the
Finder and most other IIgs desktop programs).

> Is there any way to figure out which ROM version the IIgs is without 
> starting it up? Are there any indicators on any chips or on the board?

The ROM 3 is easy to pick, because it has two ROM chips instead of one,
in the centre of the visible part of the motherboard (to the right of
the CPU).  The legend on the motherboard below them says "FF-FE" and
"FC-FD".  The part numbers on the ROMs vary, but the one I have here is
341-0749 and 341-0728, which (if I remember right) are the most common
pair.  In addition, the Ensoniq chip (in the lower right corner) is
soldered into the motherboard rather than being socketed (may not be a
100% reliable test, as this may also apply to later production runs of
the original motherboard), and the large ASIC above and to the left of
the CPU is labelled "CYA" on the legend (on the ROM 00/01 motherboard it
is "FPI").

The only way to tell a ROM 00 from a ROM 01 without turning on the
machine would be to identify the part number on the ROM.  I've misplaced
my ROM 01 machine (probably buried deeply somewhere among the piles of
old computer equipment in my flat) so I can't tell you its number off
the top of my head, but ROM 00 is 342-0077-A.