--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Is there a utility to copy ROM to RAM for most Macs > including this > IIfx? Peecees are by default on quality 386 boards > and 486 by > default onwards. Would be nice to do this also for > video card > firmware shadowed to ram.
Actually in recent years the trend has been towards faster ROM chips and optimized code so that shadowing and caching adapter ROMs or the system BIOS has little or no effect or even a negative effect. Most high end video cards won't even work if you try to shadow or cache their ROM. On a 68k Mac, I dunno how much difference it would make, if any. The ROM is an essential part of the System, responsible for much of the window graphics you see and hardware handling you don't see. The Mac ROM has always been larger than the PC BIOS, which is why the System _used_ to be much smaller than Windows. Half the System was already in the hardware! PCs began with using the BIOS for all system to hardware control but by Windows 95 the BIOS was only used for initial boot and passing hardware info to the OS, which took total control once running. Now the Mac uses only a tiny "bootstrap" ROM in a chip. The Toolbox "ROM" is a special file on the hard drive which the boot ROM loads into memory. That file is installed with the Mac OS. That has opened the door to the potential for unauthorized but legally defensible Mac clones or compatability cards for PCs and other platforms. All that needs to be reverse engineered is the tiny bootstrap ROM. The rest of the Mac hardware is all taken from the PC parts bin now. (Except the CPU!) ===== http://www.junkscience.com "All the Junk that's fit to Debunk!" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Greetings - send holiday greetings for Easter, Passover http://greetings.yahoo.com/ -- Vintage Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Vintage Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
