Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!agate!web-3d.berkeley.edu!c60c-3aw
From: c60c-3aw@web-3d.berkeley.edu (Andy McFadden)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: ROMs (was Rev C)
Summary: okay...
Keywords: SCSI ROM burning
Message-ID: <16248@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 31 Oct 88 01:42:39 GMT
References: <8810212050.aa01261@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> <1577@netmbx.UUCP> <8778@smoke.BRL.MIL> <16175@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <19697@apple.Apple.COM>
Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 49

In article <19697@apple.Apple.COM> keith@Apple.COM (Keith Rollin) writes:
>In article <16175@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> c60c-3aw@e260-3c.berkeley.edu (Andy McFadden) writes:
>>controler, etc., schematics of various things... even the original DOS 3.3
>>manual had schematics for the 20-pin connector.  No longer.
>>
>In all serisousness, what do you want??? We can't give you the source code
>listings to the ROMs in the GS...That takes up six 3" binders of small printing.
Perhaps I over reacted here.  I based my screeching on a "technical" manual
I glanced through one day; it basically said "these tool boxes exist" and
nothing more (the Firmware manual?)  The only useful thing in it was a
breakdown of the I/O page ($C000--).

Books from other sources tend to have more specific information about how
the internals are structured (all the layers of dereferencing in the tool
boxes, for example).  This is information that does not need to be widely
known; much of it is subject to change.  Try comparing "The ProDOS Technical
Reference Manual" with "Beneath Apple ProDOS" some time.

The trend seems to be toward "user friendliness".  Take a look in the old
DOS 3.3 manuals; they aren't easy to read, but *all* of the info is there.
From how to get a catalog to how the drive works.  Instead of breaking down
the literature by subject, it is being divided into "technicality levels"
(my phrase).

>However, the Apple //e and //c manual still have ROM listings in them. Also,
>the Apple IIGS Hardware reference manual does a really good job at explaining
>the hardware aspects. It also has the GS schematics on large foldout pages at
>the back of the book. (The //c manual I just thumbed through also has sche-
>matics).

That's good to hear.  I have yet to see the Hardware tech ref in a book store,
so I'm going to have to plead ignorance.

>So why do you say "no longer"? What (besides the GS ROM listings) would you
>like to see?

Difficult to answer w/o knowing what is available... I have yet to see a
thorough description of the SmartPort (my Tech Note subscription ran out a
while back).  Since most of the internal entry points in the GS ROM are very
subject to change, it would be worthless to publish them, so that's out of
the question.  If I think of something I'll let you know.

>Keith Rollin                               UUCP:      amdahl\

-- 
fadden@zen.berkeley.edu [crashed]
c60c-3aw@widow.berkeley.edu (Andy McFadden)
(Outgoing E-mail has about a 40% chance of successfully reaching you.  Feel
 free to respond through the mail, but I probably can't answer.)