Re: what are advantages of upgrading ROM 01 to ROM 03 ?

[nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <5q6tgv$rtn$1@mentor.telis.org>, itsme  <quantum@telis.org> wrote:
>Should I go out and get a ROM 03 motherboard, or is it worth it?

   Unless you *must* have any feature of the ROM 3, I'd advise staying
with what you have now and spend that money on decking out your
ROM 01 more. You'll get more use out of another addon to a GS (say
RAM, HD, accelerator) than jumping to the 3. 

   This is all covered in the comp.sys.apple2 Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ) at http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html
section 2.6, "The Apple IIGS". Please refer to that when you
have questions, as it answers many of them.

   Essentially, think of the ROM 3 & GS/OS System 5.x (and up) as the
GS that Apple *should* have released in 1986-- it's got enough stuff
built in to be more than the fast color //e that far too many people
ended up using ROM 00/01s as. The ROM 00 with no memory expansion is
pitifully unprepared for any GS software, and due to Apple's
shortsighted feature-slashing attitude (now there's a surprise), it
was released as such. However, you can deck out a 01 (and upgrade a 00
to an 01 and then deck it out) to be an effective machine.

>How about compatibility?  Which runs "better" software, ROM 3 or 1?
>Or will they both run the same software?

   Except for really old demos and games, they're effectively
identical, and all the "better" software runs on both. 

>I have also heard about appletalk not taking up any slots???

   Not quite. You'll still need to use either the printer or modem
port and the associated slot (1/2) set to Appletalk. On a ROM 01,
you'd need to set slot 7 to Appletalk, use a port, and put something
in the associated slot.

   Assuming Atalk's using the printer port, on a ROM 01, slots 1 and 7
would be set to Your Card and Appletalk respectively. On the ROM 3,
reverse the two. Moving your HD card to slot 1 is trivial, and since
you can boot from there, there's no real lossage of functionality.
[Stuff like ProBoot lets you cancel booting of the HD and go to any
other slot, giving you full access back to the rest of your drives.]

Nathan Mates



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<*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/      <*>
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