Macintosh II Rom upgrade possibilities

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Verault's picture
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Macintosh II Rom upgrade possibilities

So I was recently reading  a post by the folks at Garrets workshop: https://www.applefritter.com/content/five-new-opensource-appleii-cards-coming-soon-we-need-your-help

And was looking into those cards and other cards they offer when I came upon thier ROM upgrade SIM. then I started looking at BMOW's Rom-inator and Rom-inator II sim and it got me thinking.

https://www.bigmessowires.com/mac-rom-inator/

https://www.bigmessowires.com/mac-rom-inator-ii/

https://www.tindie.com/products/garrettswrkshp/gw4402a-8mb-rom-simm-for-mac-ii-series-and-se30/

 

 

I have been restoring some Macintosh II and IIx systems recently. The IIx can take the SIMM but what about the Macintohs II. IT has four mask roms. Underneath them are the filled unused eyelets to install a socket but will that work? Why cant the ROM-inator upgrade from BMOW work on the MAcintosh II? 

 

Here is a photo of the mask roms on my Macintosh II

 

 

 

You can see the nonexistant slot for the ROM simm underneath. Ideally I dont want to remove 4 crusty solder sockets and most likely tear a couple traces. Why cant the rominator 1 from BMOW be made to replace the ROM on a MAC II?

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Were you assuming that all

Were you assuming that all Macintosh II boards look like yours? There are multiple revisions and not all of them have pads for a ROM SIMM.

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Theoretically an adapter

Theoretically an adapter board could be made to plug into the ROM sockets. But there's little commercial sense for someone to do that.

 

Of course, you could also just burn some E(E)PROMs to get the 32-bit clean firmware. Assuming that would even work in a Mac II.

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robespierre wrote:Were you
robespierre wrote:

Were you assuming that all Macintosh II boards look like yours? There are multiple revisions and not all of them have pads for a ROM SIMM.

no. all 3 of my mac ii boards are different. that is why I show the one with a rom simm area. they all do have 4 mask rooms that is why I asked about the rumination 1 usage.

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