Article 4175 of comp.sys.apple2.usergroups: Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2.usergroups Subject: Re: Identifying IIgs ROM version From: dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 00:16:01 +1300 Message-ID: <1e0m84b.1qc5e3p14ymociN%dempson@actrix.gen.nz> References: <7visr4$c4i$1@fir.prod.itd.earthlink.net> Organization: Empsoft User-Agent: MacSOUP/2.4.2 NNTP-Posting-Host: 202.49.157.176 X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 202.49.157.176 X-Trace: 2 Nov 1999 00:16:07 NZST, 202.49.157.176 Lines: 60 Path: news1.icaen!news.uiowa.edu!news.physics.uiowa.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!usenet.net.nz!news.iprolink.co.nz!news.actrix.gen.nz!dempson Xref: news1.icaen comp.sys.apple2.usergroups:4175 Edward Floden wrote: > In article <7visr4$c4i$1@fir.prod.itd.earthlink.net>, "Kristina Price" > wrote: > > > I have an Apple IIgs, but I'm unsure how to tell which ROM it has. > > First, turn on your monitor and let it warm up. Then, turn on the IIgs; > you don't need a disk. > > At the bottom center of the screen, below the copyright line, you'll see > one of three things: You won't even see a copyright line on the original ROM release (ROM version 0). It just says "Apple IIgs" at the top of the screen. > 1. Nothing. You have ROM 1 machine. > 2. "ROM 01". You have a ROM 2 machine. > 3. "ROM 03". You have a ROM 3 machine. The latter two actually display "ROM Version 01" and "ROM Version 3". The official IIgs ROM versions are 0, 1 and 3. These are the numbers displayed on the startup screen (except for the ROM 0) and returned by the firmware call to identify the version. The story behind the skipped "ROM 2" is as follows (as far as I can tell): When Apple released ROM Version 01 (1987), they published a technical note which described the changes between the original and revised firmware. This technical note used the terms "ROM 1.0" and "ROM 2.0" to describe the two releases. This was probably due to internal confusion, or a desire to refer to the two ROM releases as the "first" and "second" versions. This meant that version 1 potentially referred to two different releases, depending on the context. The same confusion would have arisen if Apple released a "ROM Version 02". This was cleared up with the 1 MB IIgs (1989), which was released as "ROM Version 3", which was also the third release of the firmware for the IIgs. No machine was ever released with a "ROM Version 2". There is a similar jump for the Apple IIc firmware releases: 255 (-1) Original IIc firmware 0 "UniDisk" IIc release 3 "Memory expansion" IIc 4 Bug fixes 5 IIc+ Again, 3 and up are the 3rd, 4th and 5th releases of the firmware for the IIc family. -- David Empson dempson@actrix.gen.nz Snail mail: P O Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand