Re: IIgs ROMs revisited from a Collector's Perspective

[a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

Justin Scott <djnospam@impakt.net> wrote:

>Exactly how "rare" are the ROM 00 boards these days?

    There is no such thing as a ROM 00 motherboard. Apple produced the same
IIgs boards (with 256K RAM) from September 1986 until July 1989, which could
accept two different firmware revisions. These either had a '342-0077-A' chip
(ROM 00) or a '341-0077-B' chip (ROM 01) plugged in the ROM socket.

    The real question is how rare is the 342-0077-A ROM _chip_. Not terribly
rare I'd say, but not all that common either. When most Apple dealers did the
free ROM 01 upgrade they kept the older chip. Also, any IIgs used past 1988
would have the upgrade done because it is impossible to run any version of
GS/OS without it (including most post 1987 IIgs software). The exception
would have been primary and secondary schools, most only used the IIgs
in IIe emulation mode where the ROM upgrade made no difference--not to
mention the fact Apple failed to inform many schools about the free upgrade
(at least one of the larger school boards in this part of Canada).

>I'd like to round my collection off by downgrading a Woz to ROM 00, but I 
>can't find a source for the VGC and ROM 00 chip, and the one place I've found 
>with a ROM 00 board wants $89 for it!!@#!@#!@%!#%()*!@#*

    I've been planning to do the same one of these days (I have a ROM 00 chip
sitting here; incidentally they shipped as masked ROMs with a plain sticker
label with the part number mentioned above plus "(c) Apple 78, 81, 83, 86"
and "(c) Microsoft 77" as well).

    The faulty VGC's ended with a "-A" or "-1" suffix on the chip. At any
rate they're easy enough to spot when the machine is powered up (they 
exhibit a pink fringe and flicker when displaying 80 columns text and
monochrome Double-Hi-Res graphics). Only really early IIgs's shipped
with them, probably those from 1986.

    Also, this may help with your quest: IIgs boxes with a serial number that
starts with 704 and lower shipped with the faulty VGC and outdated ROM,
while 705 to 724 shipped with just the outdated ROM. Of course that's
assuming no one upgraded it (if it comes from a school there's a strong
chance it hasn't been touched all these years).

>Also, can anyone confirm or deny that the IIgs Upgrade (conversion //e) 
>shipped with ROM 01 or ROM 00?  I think they were all 01 machines from the 
>factory, because the release was very close to the 01 upgrade, IIRC.

    From what I recall, the IIe upgrade began shipping in early 1987 and the
ROM 01 upgraded wasn't announced until September 1987. Therefore there
would have been IIe to IIgs motherboard kits with the outdated ROM (00)
plugged in.

Mitchell Spector
a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca