Re: Appletalk on IIC

[wshek@ibm.net]

In <5js9v4$18t$1@darla.visi.com>, nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates) writes:
>In article <3361242a.0@news1.ibm.net>,  <wshek@ibm.net> wrote:
>>A recent post stated that appletalk work was not completed on 
>>IIC. Not true! Tech ref book shows a large segment of rom code
>>in slot 7 dedicated. If you have the UNIdisk rom (second one)
>>then you have appletalk support.
>
>   Tip: "not completed" means "Apple started the job but did not
>finish it." Reserved ROM space and pretty diagrams may point to the
>hope of support, but it never materialized.
>
>   I think it's more than just a lack of finishing writing the
>software that Apple left unfinished-- you might have to replace the
>whole serial port assembly to even get close to having Appletalk
>running on a //c.
>
>
>>The rom source code is missing in the tech book, they hid
>>it for some reason. But if you take your IIC if it has the 
>>rom I mentioned and PR#7 you'll get the appletalk not
>>started message.
>
>   You'll get that message because Apple didn't finish ripping the
>code out of ROM for that version, and only left a message saying that
>Appletalk couldn't be started. The source code is missing mostly
>because it's (1) not completed, (2) not usable, and (3) not
>supported. For the revisions after this half-baked Appletalk one,
>Apple figured they'd never get Appletalk in, and removed the stub
>telling you to go away.
>
>   With lack of Appletalk on //c and IIc+ machines, as well as killing
>the *completed* Apple II Ethernet card, Apple appears to have always
>been lukewarm at best about networking Apple II machines. Sure, they
>put it into the GS, and the rather rare //e workstation card, but with
>the IIc+ not Appletalk ready while being designed _after_ the GS,
>Apple's colors shone through.
>
>Nathan Mates
>
>
>--
><*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/      <*>
># What are the facts? Again and again and again-- what are the _facts_?
># Shun wishful thinking, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors
># think-- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places?  -R.A. Heinlein

=========================


You sure they didn't remove the stub in the 3rd rom because they
needed the slot? (there are only 7) It seems to me that the firm-
ware (ie. rom) probably works similar to archetecture followed
for any other device in slot. (ie modem printer etc) So effectively
you could write, and I have done this for other devices, system
software to drive appletalk.  (would use init, read, write etc and 
run as interrupt mechanism)

What I was asking is if anyone had knowledge of existing system
ware.

My implementation would probably just install the printer as 
an experiment. I'd have to find an appletalk reference to resolve
some questions though.

Nathan ... what is the origin of your info? Do you know someone that
worked with the products?

When you say ripped out..... are you familiar with IIC? Sounds like
you are implying roms were reused from some other machine.
My understanding is those roms are unique to the IIc.

-Walt