ROM Archive - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

30 Jun 1997

Bill:

{...}
...
  	2. Submission & storage: UUEncoded image file
e-mailed to "repository"; 
 ROM/EPROM chips sent by snail mail and returned. All submissions should have  
...
  as much info about the source computer as possible
(board revisions, date of  
...
  mnaufacture, etc.) 
...
 >I think that anything doing with the chips
(purchasing, programming, 
>shipping) should be left to the person that needs them. Sure, not very 
>many people on the list have programmers, but there are enough kind souls 
>that would do the programming. Anyway, having a policy concerning 
>shipping and supply may turn into a big headache. 
	I don't think that this would be a problem. I don't anticipate that many 
people would want it this way (we are all hardware hackers {in the nice 
sense}, after all). Even so, as long as a person doesn't want Fedex delivery, 
how bad can it be??

...
  	4. Cost: nominal (cost of postage and EPROM).
>Doing any more may actually be legally shakey. 
	I don't think so. See one of my earlier messages on this topic. If you're 
posting a ROMimage, you have already "paid" your licensing fee because you own 
the machine. I'm just replacing a defective copy with a working copy (sort of 
like exchanging a defective diskette dor a working one). We're not
"creating" 
or "copying" for distribution. Also, we can limit it to pre-PC  machines. 
Chances are that these manufacturers are either out of business or no longer 
support the machine.

...
 >Additional thought...
>How will additional required information be tied to the ROM images (as in 
>manufacturers part numbers, revision levels, serial numbers, 
>corresponding hardware information, etc.)? ROMS (and PALs) often change 
>as the circuits get minor "improvements" (ECOs).    
	I don't know yet. I'm grappling with this now. There are all sorts of issues 
with this:  parts are house numbered, or not numbered at all. Maybe we can go 
by unit serial number, date-of-manufacture stickers, and pc-board 
identifications (such as "Revision A" or the like).

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Rich Cini/WUGNET
 - ClubWin Charter Member (6)
 - MCPS Windows 95/Netowrking