Another IIci ROM hack

[onlyonemac]

There is one last thing, doug, that is missing from your hack-a STICKY topic!!!

 

[dougg3]

I think we all get our brush with Internet fame at some time or another. I guess this is yours, Doug

It seems so! So I guess it's only fitting that I am the one who adds post #1000....

First off, congratulations to you Doug and bbraun for an amazing project!

Thanks JDW!

bbraun answered pretty much everything already (thanks bbraun!). The wiki page he created explains very well what it takes to get going. I don't think the driver has been tested with OS 8, so YMMV on that, but I've tested it in a IIci with everything from 6.0.8 to 7.6 with no trouble as of the latest ROM disk driver.

If you know how to use a Mac emulator and you can either use a hex editor to manually concatenate files or use the cat command as bbraun describes on the wiki, you can probably also create your own bootable SIMM without too much trouble.

As for question #3, here's what I have available:

• 2 MB SIMMs, including 4 chips in the sockets -- $24
  
• 8 MB SIMMs -- $30
  
• Programmer boards -- $40
  
• Open-source control software, firmware, and hardware designs -- free

Shipping varies. If you just buy a SIMM I can probably ship it in an envelope to the US for $1.95. If you buy a programmer I would rather send everything in a USPS box for $5. International shipping varies, but usually the boxes cost about $16.95 to ship. Envelopes are cheaper. The price has changed over time, so it's whatever the post office is charging at the time.

The SIMM programmer communicates as a CDC class modem device. If you use Mac OS X, it's driverless. It appears as a modem in the Network System Preferences and it just works when you open the software. Windows requires a simple INF to be installed, but the INF only tells Windows to use its built in CDC serial port driver. No idea why Windows is so picky...

Like I said earlier in the thread, it works best on an Intel Mac, but the software does run on PowerPC Macs down to 10.4. It just hasn't been heavily tested and I have received a report that it loses communication easily. It works much more reliably on newer Macs but there are still occasional glitches that I want to work on. I also occasionally see the same type of problem on Windows 7. I think timeouts/retries will help with some of that, and that can all be added with a firmware update. If anyone else feels like working on the software too, it's a completely open source Google Code project.

Before anyone freaks out due to the price of the programmer board, I hope everyone understands that it's a lot of work to assemble this stuff and I've invested a ton of my own time and money into the project. In these low quantities it's really hard to make everything cheap. It's really been an eye-opening experience. I try to buy the parts and bare PCBs in larger quantities to help make it cheaper, but it also sets me back until people snatch them all up. If anyone wants to have their own PCBs made and assemble their own for cheaper, go for it -- it's all open source

There is one last thing, doug, that is missing from your hack-a STICKY topic!!!

We discussed it earlier in this thread The conclusion that we came to is that the thread doesn't have to be stickied because it keeps itself alive...

 

[JDW]

Forgive me for being the one who exceeded 1000 posts here, but I just wanted to end my words in this thread by saying 3 things:

1) Thank you once again Doug and bbraun for what is quite obviously a "tireless commitment to excellence" when it comes to making vintage Mac computing fun, exciting and incredibly practical and useful!

2) Giving a nod of respect to bbraun's previous post, I myself will not directly link to the Mac68k Forums. But for those who come to this 68kMLA thread and find the questions put forth in my previous post, please note that I fully intend to continue my questions and further discussion at the Mac68k Forums. To be specific, the "Software Hacking" forum. (I am "JDW" there too.)

3) Quick links repeated: ROMdisk Setup Wiki & ROM SIMM Programmer Software

 

[onlyonemac]

How about getting a company to assemble-like you do with the etching-your boards?

 

[dougg3]

I had the circuit boards themselves manufactured by Seeed Studio. I don't do any etching or anything like that myself. Placing/soldering the components on the boards is doable by myself, but man is it annoying. It turns out in such low quantities, paying a place to do the soldering for you is just not cost-effective.

 

[uniserver]

hey. you know the LC520 etc or the lc550 those boards have the 030 cpu still... they also have the rom slot decoldered, i wonder if those have the ability to boot from an 8mb simm

i would like to say i have 4 items from dougg3

his soldering its pretty darn good, must have a steady hand, and a nice flux pen

 

[dougg3]

hey. you know the LC520 etc or the lc550 those boards have the 030 cpu still... they also have the rom slot decoldered, i wonder if those have the ability to boot from an 8mb simm

Good question...

i would like to say i have 4 items from dougg3his soldering its pretty darn good, must have a steady hand, and a nice flux pen

Hey, thanks! I've actually moved away from using a flux pen and I now use a syringe of Chip-Quik no-clean tack flux. It works extremely well, but it's also really sticky and disgusting so I clean it off with 99% isopropyl alcohol and even then the stickiness stays around for about a week. But the flux definitely does its job well...

Yeah, I know -- no-clean flux and I clean it off. But it's weird and sticky if I leave it on.

 

[olePigeon]

I use a toothbrush + isopropyl. Makes my motherboards squeaky clean.

 

[uniserver]

It was originally planned that the 840AV ROM would contain a bootable image of System 7 within a larger 4MB ROM space (codenamed SuperMario), but Apple dropped this idea before the 840AV shipped. Later revisions of the 840AV logic board included all 2MB of ROM soldered onto the logic board.

lol from wikipedia, i like the codename.

 

[olePigeon]

So... umm. If I mailed someone my LC ROMs and some matching EEPROMs, would it be possible to make a Pirate LC ROM? Arrr!

 

[dougg3]

Haha, I'm not totally sure about the startup chime (yet another version of the sound chip that I'd need an actual LC to hack with I think), but the pirate happy mac would be doable I think...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Would it be possible to hack a version of the IIsi ROM to give it the ID of a IIci? }

 

[dougg3]

Would the ID constitute just the checksum? Because it would be very simple to change the checksum in the IIsi ROM to the IIci's checksum (first four bytes) and disable the checksum test Otherwise, I'm not sure...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Well, if the IIsi's identity transfer's with the ROM to the IIfx so that the Rocket won't work in it . . . maybe. :?:

I'm about to try the IIsi ROM in the IIcx, do I just need top pop it in there? I know this RocketWare 1.3.2 install is good, it ran fine on the IIcx when I installed it. When I swapped the HDD and Rocket to the IIsi, RocketWare launches on startup and then decides it won't work on the "IIsi" for the OS reboot. I figure if the IIsi ROM disables the Rocket in the IIcx . . . we just might have a winner. [}] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

iCrap! :-/ The IIcx does a good job of trying to boot with the IIsi ROM, but hangs at the Welcome to Macintosh screen with or without extensions disabled.

I put another 16MB into Bank B, but that didn't help, maybe I should try it with only 1MB in Bank A?

Will the IIx boot with a IIsi ROM?

 

[dougg3]

I'm pretty sure the IIsi ROM should boot both the IIcx and the IIx. Not sure why it's not working for you

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Thanks, it was probably the 7.5.1 install on the Q700 HDD that wasn't working. I just booted the IIcx from the 7.1/RockeWare 1.3.2 HDD and it booted fine w/o the Rocket. It still thinks it's a IIcx, even with the IIsi ROM. I put the Rocket in there and whammo: Error #4100 again, but this time it says "The Rocket does not work with this version of the Mac ROM." In the IIsi it's Error #4102 "Rocket does not work on this Macintosh cpu."

Rocketware 1.3.2 is looking for something in the ROM and disabling itself, I don't think it's looking further than the ROM, doesn't make much sense, nobody was hacking the Mac ROMs back in the day. It would only need to be something simple in the ROM to keep the IIsi from achieving Quadra status . . . or burning out its PSU, in the case that it wasn't Apple prohibiting its use in a LowEndMac.

Well, I got it to run under the first rev of RocketShare on the IIsi, but I'll definitely need help to get it running under the first rev of RocketWare. The later version of RocketWare doesn't even try to load, the IIsi just X's out the RocketWare extensions, steamrolling right over them.

RocketWare 1.3.2 is definitely the ticket! If only I knew how to punch it. :-/

 

[dougg3]

Figured this would be the most appropriate place to announce it -- just came out with a new version of the programmer control software (1.0.3) and firmware (1.2) available at the Google Code project:

• Now supports flashing only a portion of the SIMM (so for example if you make a ROM disk you can more quickly replace only the ROM image at the front of the SIMM without erasing your ROM disk contents).
  
• Lets you read each chip into a separate file or write each chip from a separate file. This would allow you to use the 2 MB SIMM as a chip reader/burner (for chips with compatible pinouts!)
  
• Has a nifty icon courtesy of CC_333

 

[uniserver]

I just wanted to say that the HD20 INIT is included with the hacked IIsi rom that is commonly used with dougg3 simm.

So as soon as we get BMOW's Floppy emu / +HD20 emu going, in conjunction with dougg3's ROM SIMM + Hacked IIsi ROM, We will have yet another cool way to have easily bootable machines… or easily accessible archived data

i mean just think… pop out SD card,( of BMOW's Floppy emu) load up the HD20 emu image with freshly download vintage software on your 2012 iMac, pop it into your Mac II (with simm socket soldered on) IIx/ IIfx/ IIcx/ IIsi/ IIci/ SE30 - almost as easy as a thumb drive ….