Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!oliveb!amiga!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: The Inevitable 1.4 Rom Problem (was Re: Ferrari Formula One and
Message-ID: <9251@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 9 Jan 90 03:07:19 GMT
References: <1293@corpane.UUCP>
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 45

in article <1293@corpane.UUCP>, sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) says:
> Summary: sorry about the chopped up message

> But the programs *dont* work with the new ROMs. It's too late to change that.

Au contraire, ROM-breath!  In MOST of the cases of ROM incompatibility, the
company responsible for the program is still alive and kicking.  It may take
some yelling to get them to upgrade your program, or you may (like me) simply
need to send in that old registration card.  Personally, I haven't seen all
that many programs that broke between OS revs.  But if I happened to have one,
I would certainly let my feelings be known in no uncertain terms.  If a
company can't even acknowledge their recognition of the need to supply updates
and be forthcoming about their plans to do so to support currently broken 
software, I for one would not consider buying another piece of software from 
that company.  And I would feel it my civic duty as a member of the Amiga 
community to warn everyone else about such traps.  Just as I would strive to 
mention those companies with a proper attitude about fixing their bugs.

I'm sure you wouldn't like bringing home that great new software widget, only
to find out that it's broken under the current OS rev.  But the only way to
prevent this is for everyone to make the practice of not upgrading totally
unacceptible.  If there was an easy way to keep the old OS around, this 
might not seem as important, but it is.  If an obselete OS is considered
still viable by the majority of the user community, it will likely be
considered so by the vendors as well, and then you're likely to fall into
a situation somewhere down the road where each of your favorite packages
needs a different OS rev.  That would go a fair distance toward killing the
Amiga and eliminating the OS compatibility problem by eliminating software
growth, period.  Multitasking doesn't cross ROM revisions!

By the way, unlike Amiga object modules, the ROM code is not a relocatable module,
but in fact hard wired to a particular address.  Which is exactly why there is
no utility, either from Commodore or elsewhere, that will let you load up an
alternate ROM image without some magic.  I used MMU magic in SetCPU, a 3rd
party could of course build a ROM emulator for ROMed machines like the one I 
saw in Germany last year (if they have it at the Paris conference, I'll let you
all know).

> John Sparks  | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps. Accessable via Starlink (Louisville KY)
> sparks@corpane.UUCP <><><><><><><><><><><> D.I.S.K. ph:502/968-5401 thru -5406 
> Beware of quantum ducks: Quark, Quark.
-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Systems Engineering) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: hazy     BIX: hazy
                    Too much of everything is just enough