Re: Woz GS info.

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <46h9em$iu3@news.nevada.edu>, Snit <snit@nevada.edu> wrote:
> How many Woz GS's were made.

I don't think it was ever official announced.  Estimates on this
newsgroup have varied between 10,000 and 100,000.

There are quite a few in New Zealand, as we got a large batch when the
IIgs first came out.

> Are they more valuable to folks now?

Doubtful.  I know of people who have deliberately swapped lids to keep
the "Woz" signature when getting another IIgs (e.g. a ROM 3).

All it means in practice is that the machine is very old, more likely
to need a battery replacment (if it hasn't already been replaced), and
is more likely to have the original ROM (00) and/or VGC (with faulty
monochrome double hi-res mode and sometimes 80-column text mode).

> For that matter, how can I upgrade the ROM 1 in it to something newer
> (what is the newest, and what are the advantages/disadvantages to the
> newer ROM's?)

The only newer version (publically available) is the "ROM 3".  You
cannot "upgrade" a ROM 1 to a ROM 3, as the latter has twice as much
ROM and a new motherboard.  You can do a motherboard exchange, e.g.
through Alltech Electronics.

Most of the new stuff provided by the ROM 3 is available by using the
latest system software with a ROM 1.  The only significant things that
are missing are the extra RAM (1MB vs 128k of "fast" RAM) and ROM
(QuickDraw runs noticeably faster in a ROM 3 than a ROM 1 with System
5.0 or later, because code is faster running from ROM than from RAM).

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand