Re: Which //gs to buy?

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

jalking@telis.org (Jason A. King) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>   I want to know which ROM version of the //gs is the best to try and
>buy. I don't know much about the //gs but have seen others mentioning the
>ROM versions in their //gs's. Is it important? What will the different ROM
>versions allow me to do or not do? Your info is valuable to me.

I'm sure others will fill in the gap, but in a nutshell, the ROM 3
version is the best.  It comes with 1MB to start and since the
IIGS needs 4MB to be really useful (like playing Wolfenstein
3D...the game that looks like Doom, you know 3D texture
mapping and scrolling) the ROM 3 gives you a head start.  Also,
it runs its graphics GUI slightly faster than a ROM 01.

ROM 01 supporters will try to tell you that some very old
software only runs on a ROM 01, but most of the useful ones
have been patched or updated to run on a ROM 3 also.

The sound is also significantly cleaner from the ROM 3.  Not
the fault of its sound chip, since the ROM 01 uses the same
32 channel wavetable Ensoniq chip, the 5503, but rather the
way the motherboard is wired.  If you do get a ROM 01, a
way to clean up to sound is to move the power supply OUT
of the IIGS case.  Most of the noise is picked up from the
power supply.

The ROM 3 will also allow you to plug a card into slot 4
and still use the ADB mouse in GS/OS.  That effectively
gains you one expansion slot, which is very very useful.
For example, you can have a Second Sight SVGA card
in that slot to provide 24-bit 1024x768 SVGA video!  Which
leads to another thing...the ROM 3 accepts video cards
such as SVGA and genlock cards in any one of its seven
Apple Bus slots.  The ROM 01 only accepts them in slot 3.

The ROM 3 is the better motherboard.