Re: Rom 04 GS

["Paul Grammens" <grammens@svn.net>]

Nice post. This is FAQ material.
-Paul

"Mitchell Spector" <a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca> wrote in message
3d66d874.4934391@news.videotron.ca">news:3d66d874.4934391@news.videotron.ca...
> kauai96765@yahoo.com (The Apple Man) wrote:
>
> >Does anyone know where to find the technical specs and the details of
> >the Rom 04 IIgs?
>
>     There was a five-page article in a 1996 issue of Shareware Solutions
II
> (Volume 3, issue 1) discussing the story of how 2 or 3 of these prototypes
> were discovered, followed by an in-depth analysis/observation of the
> machines. The issue before it actually had a high-quality photo of the
> motherboard on the back page.
>
>     It isn't actually the "ROM 4" (in fact these prototypes used the ROM 3
> firmware) but had been called the "Mark Twain"--Apple's internal code
> name for the the new IIgs redesign scheduled for a 1991-92 release.
>
>     These machines were _far_ from being finished, and probably would
> have added more features and capabilities as the project developed.
> At any rate, the prototypes uncovered had this:
>
> - Built-in 1.44MB SuperDrive floppy (slot on case lid)
> - Built-in SCSI hardrive
> - Stereo-out jack (back port)
> - Microphone jack (back port)
> - Dual 30-pin SIMM sockets
> - 2 Megabytes RAM built-in
> - DMA SCSI controller intergrated into motherboard
> - FDHD floppy controller intergrated into motherboard
>
> Obviously the motherboard layout changed. I remember it was a bit wider,
> things moved around, two regular expansion slots disappeared (plus the
> 44-pin memory slot as well), it had a smaller yet higher capacity
powersupply
> and a support frame to mount internal drives, and so on.
>
> These were so incomplete that they hadn't yet written the new firmware
> (which, no doubt would have been "ROM version 4") or had the floppy
> drive properly working (you can't eject disks and they don't recognize
> high-density floppies). Looking at some of the images of boards, they
> looked to still be in the alpha stage. Here's a photo of a "ROM 4"
> board, as well as how it compared to a ROM 00/01 and 3 board:
>
> http://persweb.direct.ca/mystix/ROM_MB.htm
>
> >I know that several people have them but no one
> >seems willing to share any of the details.  Any help here?
>
>     Several people? I only know of two or three people who have these
> (Joe Kohn and Tony Diaz) and from what I've heard, only about 20 of
> these were every produced, with most of them destroyed by Apple.
>
>     Interestingly, back in 1991, a friend of mine was a close friend
> of a software developer here in Montreal (who worked for an
> internationally known company). He claimed to have seen a sneak
> peak at a new Apple IIGS the company was given on loan, and
> described in near perfect detail, the Mark Twain above--with the
> addition of a few more features.
>
>     He later claimed to have made the whole thing up, but I always had
> my doubts (I suppose his friend wasn't too pleased for leaking out what
> he shouldn't have even been shown). The details he gave me were so
> close in fact, I remember Joe Kohn writing me to compare his Mark Twain
> with the prototypes I talked about on comp.sys.apple2 back in the early
> 90's. :)
>
>     It's obvious other IIgs prototypes were built and shelved at
> Apple over the years (inCider even reported about one in the
> August 1988 issue) though I've always wondered if there weren't
> further developed versions of the IIgs Mark Twain built and lost,
> like the one my friend described. I suppose we'll hear about it one
> day in the future from ex or retired Apple employees if they did
> exist. I even learned about the project code name"Mark Twain"
> (long before most people knew what it related to) by talking to one.
> I've also heard other interesting stories about Apple II prototypes
> that never-were from people who've worked at Apple.
>
> Mitchell Spector
> a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca
>