Re: ROM 3 vs ROM 03?

[sb_spec@pavo.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article ltchean@iss.nus.sg (Lim Thye Chean) writes...
>I received this letter from Australia...
> 
>        Well, I was told that the ROM 3 is newer than the ROM 03. I do not
>have any specs supporting the documentation of the newer ROM 3 motherboard
>but I was told some of the newer features of it :
> 
>        (1) Expanded ToolBox (5.0.4 Tools in ROM)
>        (2) Newer version of Ensoniq (how true I am not sure)
>        (3) Sharper, Crispier and louder music (sound)
>        (4) Due to the '1' there is no Ctrl-open apple-closed apple-N
>            that shows the peole who bought us the IIGS.

	Let me just clear things up. There is not, nor ever has been a 
"ROM 03" Apple IIgs! The label "03" is completely non-existant, it's just 
something fabricated by users. Apple Computer released the "ROM 3" in 
August 1989, offically called the "Apple IIgs with 1 megabyte". Now, 
according to the information I received from Jim Ferr of Apple Canada, a 
small number of ROM 3 machines were manufactured with a minor glitch in 
firmware (not the motherboard!). When it was discovered, the problem was 
quickly resolved and a fixed set of ROMs replaced the "bad" -- only days/
weeks/months after the first ROM 3's went into production. Apple decided 
the glitch was so minor, they wouldn't bother to replace those ROMs already 
installed or shipped out. 
	What I wasn't aware of until just recently, was a new part 
number was given to these fixed ROMs, and possibly, more than one glitch 
was fixed. As for that list of features you have above, 1 through 4 are
most certainly nothing more than wishful rumours. I repeat again, the
*ONLY* difference between the two ROM 3s are in the 256k of ROM firmware;
meaning I can have the later ROM 3 GS by swapping the two ROM chips...

Here's a list of faults (I *think*) in the older ROM 3:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Programmer CDAs ('Visit Monitor', 'Memory Peeker') always active, and
  no way to disable them. 
- Built-in Monitor does bizzar things when certain illegal commands are
  given. For example, typing "s" and <Return> locks up IIgs, then pressing
  certain keys lets you cycle through IIe and IIgs graphic pages still
  in memory (I've been told GSBug does this, but I can do this from a
  cold-boot with nothing in memory). Typing "l" (or "list") and <Return> 
  causes an inverse display of non-stop scrolling garabage with error-bell
  ringing -- until CTRL-RESET is pressed.
- Cannot format RAMDisk to 'largest selectable' size. Also, at random,
  doing a certain number of OA-CTRL-RESETs formats over /RAM5 (probably
  toggles 'Resize after reset' by itself when normal memory is trashed). 
  When /RAM5 gets formatted the GS pauses for a few seconds, though this
  might be normal. (Note: I have a fully-populated Apple 1mb card)

>    %% GS Lover Loves GS %%    Author of Super Magic 3 & Mandelbrot II GS
> 
>          Lim Thye Chean: Lim is my surname. My name is Thye Chean.
>     My address: LTCHEAN@ISS.NUS.SG or 12, College Green, Singapore 1129 

Mitchell Spector
sb_spec@pavo.concordia.ca / spector@vax2.concordia.ca