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Should I get a Rominator II?

croissantking

Well-known member
I’ve recently acquired an SE/30 which I’ve recapped and upgraded to 20MB RAM, it’s running System 7.5.3 on a speedy 4GB Quantum drive.

I’ve got the Mode32 7.5 extension installed to enable use of the extra RAM, but I find the machine a little unstable/crash-prone with 32-bit addressing turned on. Would I fare better in terms of stability if I had a 32-bit clean ROM (e.g. Rominator II) installed?

Also, a bit off-topic, but what is the rationale of the ‘•Shut Down’ desk accessory in the Apple menu? It seems redundant when you can use the Special menu. I guess it saves having to switch to the Finder first - but I’d always quit my open applications first anyway before initiating a shutdown.. (I grew up starting with Mac OS 8, by which time this DA was no longer a thing…)
 
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olePigeon

Well-known member
I don't know if it'd solve your crashing issues (I seem to recall I also had issues with Mode32), but the Rominator II adds other benefits as well.

I also have no idea what the Shut Down accessory was for. I suppose it could be useful if you don't know AppleScript, such as assigning it to an Fkey or maybe with some fancier Calendar software that lets you link apps so you could schedule the computer to shut down upon a specific event completing.
 

rplacd

Well-known member
Everyone has their own reason, but I'd get it – if you have BMOW's floppy emulator – for the HD20 support, so you can mount large disk images – it's the easiest way to transfer large files. I have an accelerator that's incompatible with the ROMinator (the Turbo040 patches the ROM), and I'm seriously feeling the pain.
 

jeremywork

Well-known member
You can put •Shut Down in the "Shutdown Items" folder within the System folder for an extra dramatic shut down sequence...
 

ArmorAlley

Well-known member
I’ve recently acquired an SE/30 which I’ve recapped and upgraded to 20MB RAM, it’s running System 7.5.3 on a speedy 4GB Quantum drive.

I’ve got the Mode32 7.5 extension installed to enable use of the extra RAM, but I find the machine a little unstable/crash-prone with 32-bit addressing turned on. Would I fare better in terms of stability if I had a 32-bit clean ROM (e.g. Rominator II) installed?
In short, the answer is yes, but it very much depends on what you doing with your SE/30.

8MB is fine for an SE/30, especially when you use it as a System 6 machine, then you get a really fast Mac.
8MB is on the low side for System 7.5.3 but is still very usable.
If your really want System 7.5.3, then a ROMinator will help with those later games & apps.

I've had no problems with stability with a ROMinator in my IIfx, but then again, I've never had any problems with Mode32 either.

A couple of thoughts come to mind:
• A SCSI2SD / BlueSCSI et al. will give you faster read & write times and you will boot faster too.
This will make a fast System 6 machine faster and is a better investment than a ROMinator (unless you really like having the HD present).
HDs take up a lot of space, generate a lot of heat and use a fair amount of electricity.
An SCSI2D et al. allows for better airflow and cooler temperatures inside your SE/30. It's not as romantic though.
• A 12MB RAM-Disk used as a boot disk or application disk will give you a fast drive;
 

joshc

Well-known member
I would opt for a stock ROM with Force32 installed instead if you just want to use > 8MB RAM as that will automatically turn on 32 bit addressing at boot. Unless you need HD20 support, you don't really need the Rominator II.
 

croissantking

Well-known member
I would opt for a stock ROM with Force32 installed instead if you just want to use > 8MB RAM as that will automatically turn on 32 bit addressing at boot. Unless you need HD20 support, you don't really need the Rominator II.
But the problem is availability - the Rominator II is cheap and plentiful, other options probably not?
 

joshc

Well-known member
But the problem is availability - the Rominator II is cheap and plentiful, other options probably not?
What do you mean? I'm saying you should stick with the stock ROM. You shouldn't really have stability problems. You might find 7.1 more stable than 7.5 on an SE/30 though. Watch out for extension conflicts as well.
 

croissantking

Well-known member
What do you mean? I'm saying you should stick with the stock ROM. You shouldn't really have stability problems. You might find 7.1 more stable than 7.5 on an SE/30 though. Watch out for extension conflicts as well.
I got confused when you wrote Force32 rather than Mode32, and thought you meant there was some other kind of ROM I could buy.
 

beachycove

Well-known member
Could be a RAM issue. E.g., my SE/30 had trouble with lockups, and I just couldn’t get to the bottom of it. After endless fussing, and with me on the point of abandoning the machine as a lost cause, an experienced member on here advised me to change the RAM (there was a thread about it, but of course I can’t find it any more after the several crashes).

Anyway, it was suggested to me that my SE/30 does not like even perfectly good 4MB simms with fewer than eight chips on them (even if problem-free in other machines, which was my situation), but would be happier with (presumably older?) 4MB simms with eight chips. To be honest, I thought this was probably nonsense, as I hadn’t seen or heard of this before, and I had to dig around in my stash to find eight of them — and swap some out of a IIci, as I recall — but I figured it was worth a shot, since nothing else had worked….

Worked a treat. Mode32 had nothing to do with it.
 

croissantking

Well-known member
Could be a RAM issue. E.g., my SE/30 had trouble with lockups, and I just couldn’t get to the bottom of it. After endless fussing, and with me on the point of abandoning the machine as a lost cause, an experienced member on here advised me to change the RAM (there was a thread about it, but of course I can’t find it any more after the several crashes).

Anyway, it was suggested to me that my SE/30 does not like even perfectly good 4MB simms with fewer than eight chips on them (even if problem-free in other machines, which was my situation), but would be happier with (presumably older?) 4MB simms with eight chips. To be honest, I thought this was probably nonsense, as I hadn’t seen or heard of this before, and I had to dig around in my stash to find eight of them — and swap some out of a IIci, as I recall — but I figured it was worth a shot, since nothing else had worked….

Worked a treat. Mode32 had nothing to do with it.
This could be my issue, then? I bought a set of 'PurpleRAM new 16MB kit' from the French seller who manufactures them. Although I was told they would be compatible.
 

beachycove

Well-known member
All I can say is that it worked here at this end. In your case, testing with, say, 8x1mb replacement simms might be the easiest way to find out. 1mb simms should be cheap, and were the machine to work fine, then you have your problem isolated.

The other thing, of course, is to be sure your scsi drive is terminated and that your system software is functioning properly. On the latter, 1) Lockups can be caused by Extension conflicts, so using a minimum System for testing purposes is advisable, plus 2) I’d also reinstall the System before shelling out much money, just in case something got garbled in a download or whatever.
 

croissantking

Well-known member
I have the original x4 1MB SIMMs that came with the Mac, is it possible they don't play well with the x4 4MB SIMMs in the other bank?
 

beachycove

Well-known member
The only thing to watch is that your 1mb simms need to be in Bank B in that configuration. I don’t think there is any other conflict possible between lower and higher capacity simms (though the number of chips on the two sets could be a factor, I suppose).

If that Bank A and B question is already right, then I would try running the machine with a minimal set of Extensions/ Control Panels (via the Extensions Manager if running 7.5.x) with just the 4x1mb simms in Bank A and see if it runs stably. Troubleshoot by a process of elimination.

The problem with this, of course, is that the SE/30 is such a pain to work on. The SE/30 zealots make custom cables to avoid all the dis/assembly required.
 

beachycove

Well-known member
Here is one of several threads that I have had going about my two SE/30s over the past few years. Perhaps you will find it helpful.

 
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