ROM 01 Superiority

[kennethweibel@yahoo.com (Ken)]

>I have heard it claimed that there are 
>a very few programs, I think games, that would not work properly on a 
>Rom 3, but have had no personal experience.  

   I'm going to nit-pick for a minute in a plug for the (IMO slightly
superior) ROM 01.  I have both a ROM 01 and a ROM 03 IIgs.  My best
hardware is on my "favorite" computer, the ROM 1, despite the fact the
ROM 3 is equipped with extra memory.  (I've also heard people say the
ROM 3 has better sound, but I can't tell the difference.)

   FIrst off, I wish I could remember the title of the program(s) that
won't run on ROM 3.  I will try to look them up tomorrow, but I think
they were a few FTA demos or games, if I am correct.

   Secondly, is a GS/OS disk space issue.  For a long time, my IIgs
computers did not have a hard drive.  Because of this,  I have
converted many small GS/OS programs to self-boot on a single floppy
disk.  You know, you take system software and you name one of the
programs "STARTUP" and put it in the right place so it boots
automatically when the disk is in the drive.  (I did this because
there is a lot od disk swapping involved with loading finder disk and
then inserting and running from a floppy.)

When you run system software, there are two files on the system disk
(System setup folder) called TS2 and TS3.  A ROM 1 needs the TS2 file
(37 k).  A Rom 3 needs the TS3 file (40+k).  So, by using my ROM 1, I
can trash the larger TS3 file and save myself a few prescious
kilobytes of disk space.  By saving the few kilobytes of disk space in
GS/OS, I can add bigger programs to my auto-load disks.  In turn,
these auto-load disks will only run on ROM 1.

I'm not sure if my wording makes sense to others', but it makes sense
to me because I did it for years.  As a result, I have a pile of disks
that don't run on my ROM 3 that do run on my ROM 1.  Many of these
disks could never run on the ROM 3 because the TS3 file (that takes up
more disk space than the TS2 file) is not present.   

>As you can see, the upgrade to Rom 3 was a close call for the benefit 
>received vs the cost.

All in all, I do agree that ROM 01 and ROM 03 are nearly identical in
ability.  I credit the ROM 03's extra built-in RAM.  However, when
squeezing every kilobyte out of an 800k self-loading floppy is an
issue, a ROM 01 is the winner.  A ROM 03 requires a larger system file
to run GS/OS.


   -Tim
  ROM 01 Fan-atic. :)