Re: Appletalk on IIC

[nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates)]

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/      <*>
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