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From: wagner@pucc.Princeton.EDU (John Wagner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: New GS ROMs
Message-ID: <10006@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 19 Aug 89 00:04:44 GMT
References: <34114@apple.Apple.COM> <8908181021.AA14047@trout> <3893@csd4.csd.uwm.edu>
Sender: news@phoenix.Princeton.EDU
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In article <34114@apple.Apple.COM>, mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage) writes:> 
> It is highly unlikely that any kind of non-utility software will require
> anything present in ROM 3 and not present in ROM 1.  It's certainly nicer, but
> all the functionality (except revised firmware for slots) is pretty much present
> in 5.0.  You should feel left behind if you can't run 5.0, not if you can't
> get the new ROM.  It's nicer, but I *seriously* doubt it will be required for
> anything in the near future (for any good reason, at least).


Given that I have a ROM 1 machine, how does 5.0 recogize what routines it has to replace (i.e. the missing functionality present in 5.0)?  If there is a new toolbox function I can see where that should be simple, but what about function that is simply enhanced?

I think some of the heat of this argument may be masking the reason an owner should worry about enhancements like this.  If the replacement function is not in ROM, then it must run in RAM.  This means my older machine with 1.25 meg may not run code that a ROM3 (or later) machine with 1.25 meg can run.  I may need up to 256K additional memory (assuming the absolute worst case that all ROM resident routines have to be replaced by code in the OS).  Sure I can get this with 3rd party boards, but the assumption







 in this discussion seems to be that any program, despite the ROM differences, will continue to work.  My past experience on machines that have changed architecturally less than the apple (IBM 360/370 series) is that this isn't true, no matter how much we wish it were.  Developers do not restrict themselves for a period of time that seems reasonable to hardware owners. 

In addition, how does 5.0 recognize that the enhanced code is even needed.  I'm sure that you load what you feel is needed even if the program that is being run succesfully ran with ROM 0 or 1.  There is simply no way for you to know this at the OS level.  But the result is lost memory in my machine on a daily use basis.  Sooner or later this will turn in to additional expense to do exactly what I did before.

I think Apple should seriously consider a licensing agreement with 3rd party vendors under which they would be able to resell ROM3 (or future ROMx versions).  The argument that this opens Apple to any theft if falacious.  If I want to steal the ROM code, I simply buy a current machine and look at it.  By allowing for this option you can provide a migration path for older machines, keep current IIGS owners happy (and buying more IIGS product) and