Re: IIgs...long delay and monitor glitches

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

Labelas Enoreth <labelas@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Someone wrote:
> > In general, the ROM 3 is the better unit.  It has more standard
> > motherboard memory (1MB), saves a slot when doing AppleTalk,
> > has built in "Easy Access" tools so that you can run the computer
> > without a mouse for example, has less noisy sound output, and
> > a couple of other things I can't recall right now.  The quickdraw
> > on the ROM 3 is supposed to be a bit faster.

QuickDraw (i.e. all desktop displays) is noticeably faster, if you
compare unaccelerated ROM 3 and ROM 1 IIgses, both running System 5.0 or
later.  If the ROM 1 is running System 4.0 or earlier, the ROM 3 has an
even greater advantage.

An accelerator will bring them back to a reasonably level playing field.

Some other ROM 3 improvements that occur to me:

- Hardware shadowing for text page 2, so "Alternate Display Mode"
doesn't slow the computer down.

- Lots of useful improvements in the system monitor firmware.

- More ROM, containing more of the toolbox, which frees up yet more RAM.

- Some cards work in more slots, e.g. the Video Overlay Card and Second
Sight only work in slot 3 on a ROM 1, unless you make a minor
modification to the motherboard, but work in slots 1-6 in a ROM 3.

- RAM disk can be resized much more easily, and works considerably
faster (System 6.0.1 brings the ROM 1 up to speed but doesn't help with
resizing).

- The Caps Lock light works on an extended keyboard.  :-)  [This can be
done in software on a ROM 1, but it slows the computer down.]

> > The downside: the Ensoniq is soldered on the ROM 3 rather
> > than in a socket like the ROM 01.
> > 
> > I've kept reading that when the ROM 03 was first released, many
> > older games and demos would not work, however most of this
> > stuff has been rewritten to be ROM 03 friendly.
> 
> Ok, were there also problems with certain cards and such?

Some memory expansion cards have problems.  Any card that sticks to the
standard (one, two or four logical rows of memory, either 256KB or 1MB
per row, all rows the same size) will work in either machine.  If the
card supports more than 4MB it may have problems, depending on how it
decodes the address.

I can't think of any specific examples offhand.  Anyone else?

I'm not aware of any standard slot cards that work on one machine but
not the other.

> The game/demo incompatibility I can deal with, until I find out that the
> one specific game I want to play is incompatible. And if it turns out to
> be Arkanoid II, I'll start shootin'.

I'm pretty sure Arkanoid II works fine.  I know I played it after I got
my ROM 3.

[Labelas: could you please quote the name of the person who wrote the
message you are replying to.  There have been two cases now where my ISP
didn't get the original message but did get your reply, and I have no
idea who wrote the text you quoted.]

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand