Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!well!farren
From: farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: The Inevitable 1.4 Rom Problem (was Re: Ferrari Formula One and Kickstart 1.3?)
Message-ID: <15400@well.UUCP>
Date: 7 Jan 90 06:38:17 GMT
References: <1017@tuminfo1.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de> <7797@cognos.UUCP> <694@tau.sm.luth.se> <C=0e$c@cs.psu.edu>
Lines: 19

bralick@cs.psu.edu (Will Bralick) writes:

>I have always wondered why the kickstart ROMs weren't packaged
>in one of those cartridge doodahs.  Were cartridges considered
>and rejected for some design reason, or were they not considered
>at all?  Opening the box to replace ROMs each time the operating 
>system is upgraded has always seemed suboptimal to me.

There was a cartridge slot in the original (or somewhat original, anyhow)
Amiga design - it was intended, according to the documentation I have, to
be for, among other things, an add-in MS-DOS processor.

As to why Kickstart ROMs aren't put into cartridges - many reasons, 
including a very basic one of reliablility - each insertion/removal cycle
of a cartridge introduces a greater chance of failure.  Since the system
software isn't changed all that often, ROMs make much more economic sense.

-- 
Mike Farren 				     farren@well.sf.ca.usa