prototypes etc. Re: [Duo2400] Re: Duo mainboard upgrades.

[Gregg Eshelman]

--- Tom and Lisa P <gionpeters at comcast.net> wrote:

> >I'm still trying to decide whether or not to keep
> >the Duos or see if anyone will pay a premuim to own
> >an Enineering Sample 230 and a Yeager Prototype
> 280.
> 
> The ROM dumps should be interesting.  how much VRAM
> does the 280 prototype have ?

I assume the same as the production 280. This one has
12 megs RAM, 320meg HD, 14.4 modem and the 640x400
greyscale screen. The lid says it's a 250. About This
Macintosh says it's a 280. The lable on the bottom
says Yeager Prototype Unit- Not For Resale and has
a warning that it is NOT FCC approved.

If you want, I have some pics and the ROM dumps
grabbed
with the getrom application that comes with the
Basilisk II emulator. I e-mailed them to Tom Owad
at his request but haven't heard anything back.

The 280 prototype has an interesting video quirk.
On windows in the background there is a vertical
stripe of pixels that turns white, under the two
leftmost menu items. If the titlebar text is in that
area it stays, but all other pixels exept the main
1 pixel wide window lines become white. The window
contents is also not affected. (Doesn't bother the
desktop pattern either.) When the window is brought
to the front it returns to normal. Looks like a ROM
bug not yet squashed. The ROM (I think it might be
that) chip has a handwritten lable on it.

As for the 230, it's likely identical or nearly so
to the production version. 

I know a guy who works
in Micron's memory testing lab in Boise, ID.
Apple sent them 8 engineering sample Cubes for
compatability testing. They passed all tests. When
the Cube went to retail, Micron bought 8 more through
normal channels and found they were 100% identical
to the samples. Not so for the "Super Cube" samples
Apple sent! Those had a problem with one of the RAM
slots. There probably are no 100% perfect Super Cubes
since Apple pulled the plug before it got beyond
first stage engineering samples. (Micron halted their
RAM testing when Apple told them the Super Cube was
kaput.)

What Micron does with the samples they're sent and the
systems they buy retail is they completly dismantle
them and mount the boards on a fixture to make it
easier to swap many memory modules in and
out for testing. When the tests are done, the pieces
get tossed in boxes and shuffled off to a warehouse.

So now you can drool at the thought of knowing where
16 Cubes (one board died due to being bolted down to
a bent fixture) and an unknown number of engineering
sample or protoytpe Super Cubes are located. ;)

=====
"When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins." Hiro Protagonist

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