17 Jul
2004
17 Jul
'04
4:38 p.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Tony Duell
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 2:55 PM
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Help with Apple2 clone "Orange Peel"
a
Inside the "New Boot" ROM, the only
strings I can see are:
FBPASIC OR INTBASIC FILE REQUIRED
INSERT APPLICATION DISC AND PRESS ESC
This suggests that it loads basic from disk and would not
have it in ROM.
So - I have a bit of a paradox : the "2kb/2716" label suggests
ROM's, and the 64k of RAM on the mainboard also indicates that
all the RAM is on the lower board, however the ROM strings
suggest that this may be the only ROM.
IIRC, a real Apple ][ has up to 64K RAM (48K on the mainboard, 16K on language card) and some ROMs. The ROMs are
bank-switched with the top
16K
(Language card) RAM.
It sounds like you effectively have a built-in language card (that
would
be quite sensible), and you have RAM in place of the
ROM (possibly to
get
round Apple copyrights). The 5517 RAMs take the place
of ROMs --
they're
loaded once on boot-up, and then contain the resident
BASIC, etc. The
EPROM you have sounds like a bootloader for these RAMs.
-tony
I wonder if the "booter" disk on for my Basis 108 might have some useful
code for Dave to custom build a Basic boot disk for his clone. The Basis
108 originally had to load Basic from disk, but the owner could (as
usual) replace the original single ROM with six EPROMS that matched the
Apple II D,E,F ROMs.
The Basis that I have used six 2732 EPROMS that had both FPbasic and
Applesoft Basic on them, and the system could be booted into either by
simply flipping a switch. Very slick, I thought.
Dave, I have .DSK images of two different Basis "booter" disks on my
website that you can download if you want to take a look at them.
Ernest
http://www.apple2clones.com