Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!mattd
From: mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: New GS ROMs
Message-ID: <34107@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 18 Aug 89 18:05:03 GMT
References: <34083@apple.Apple.COM> <327*delaneyg@wnre.aecl.cdn>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 42

In article <327*delaneyg@wnre.aecl.cdn> delaneyg@wnre.aecl.CDN ("H. Grant Delaney") writes:
>
>How about ?
>
>Do you want rom upgrade a price that reflects apples true cost?
>    [ ] Yes     [ ] No
>
Grant, we met in Kansas.  You seem like an intelligent guy. For the life of me,
I can't understand why you're not understanding this.  Maybe it's me.  I should
have eaten breakfast.

The IIgs we all know has one ROM socket for a 128K ROM.  The new IIgs has two
ROM sockets for two 128K ROMs.

*YOU CAN NOT FIT THE NEW ROMS INTO AN EXISTING MOTHERBOARD.*

As Jeremy has pointed out, there is a facility for adding ROM through the
Memory Expansion Slot.  However, Apple's memory card doesn't have a ROM socket
on it, so a ROM upgrade can't be offered that way, either.  Although third-
party cards might have ROM sockets on them, to upgrade Apple would then have
to sell their highly valued intellectual property, the Apple IIgs ROM, without
a computer.  The word "clone" instantly pops to my mind, and we all know how
Apple's legal department feels about such things.

It would be nice to run the new ROMs in the old hardware, but the hardware and
legal reasons probably won't allow it to happen.  If there had been an upgrade,
it would have had to be a motherboard swap, and those can get pretty expensive
for everyone involved (the users and Apple).

I'm not making any policy statements here; I'm just stating how I see the
picture based on my knowledge of the system (both technically and legally).
I could be wrong.  It's happened before.  But this is how I see it.

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