MPW IIGS package

retrogear

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Feb 16, 2013, 9:20:39 AM2/16/13

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I am so close to being able to compile the IIGS system sources with MPW IIGS. The code is all assembling until it looks for the tool called overlayIIGS which may have been in the original MPW IIGS package ? I am mainly doing this for historical purposes to see if it can still be accomplished. If anyone knows where this tool might exist please let me know. Reply here or gmail me at larrygr510. Whether we admit it or not most of what this group does is re-live a rich part of the history of computing. Thanks.

D Finnigan

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Feb 17, 2013, 5:32:35 PM2/17/13

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retrogear wrote:
> I am so close to being able to compile the IIGS system sources with MPW
> IIGS. The code is all assembling until it looks for the tool called
> overlayIIGS which may have been in the original MPW IIGS package ?

We've probably done the same searches and came up with the same results:
overlayiigs likely was an Apple-internal MPW tool. There is no mention of it
anywhere in the Apple II Usenet archives here at Mac GUI, nor any mention of
it on the Web according to Google. Nor did I find any remark about it in any
MPW documentation.

Probably the best way to proceed is to first figure out what exactly it did
by examining the make files and examining how it is used. I think it was
used to overlay parts of files to make a composite file, but I could be
wrong.

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retrogear

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Feb 17, 2013, 7:01:53 PM2/17/13

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> We've probably done the same searches and came up with the same results:
> overlayiigs likely was an Apple-internal MPW tool. There is no mention of it
> anywhere in the Apple II Usenet archives here at Mac GUI, nor any mention of
> it on the Web according to Google. Nor did I find any remark about it in any
> MPW documentation.
> Probably the best way to proceed is to first figure out what exactly it did
> by examining the make files and examining how it is used. I think it was
> used to overlay parts of files to make a composite file, but I could be
> wrong.
>

the tool overlayiigs appears to be used as follows:

overlayiigs inputfile outputfile -a $6400

which places input file into output file at offset $6400. I suppose this could be done manually with a hex editor. Any utility come to mind that can do this?

Larry

Steven Hirsch

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Feb 17, 2013, 9:07:45 PM2/17/13

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IF this is being fed an object file, I have a feeling it may be doing segment
relocation. Maybe not as simple as a mechanical overlay.

retrogear

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Feb 17, 2013, 11:26:51 PM2/17/13

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> IF this is being fed an object file, I have a feeling it may be doing segment
> relocation. Maybe not as simple as a mechanical overlay.

the linker and makebin are run before this step so they should be binary files. the hex editor would have to run from the Basilisk Mac OS or can be copied out to a Windows folder. Basilisk has the copy to Windows feature built in. I have all the binaries compiled for the GS firmware and their offsets mapped so if I can patch them together I might almost have a ROM 04 Mark Twain ???

Stavros Karatsoridis

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Feb 19, 2013, 3:10:20 PM2/19/13

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Nope. You won't have a ROM 04.

The Mark Twain prototypes I've seen all have ROM 3 in them. The
project never got far enough for a new ROM to be written for the
machine. The source code is the source code for ROM 3.

D Finnigan

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Feb 19, 2013, 3:57:09 PM2/19/13

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Stavros Karatsoridis wrote:
>
> Nope. You won't have a ROM 04.
>
> The Mark Twain prototypes I've seen all have ROM 3 in them. The
> project never got far enough for a new ROM to be written for the
> machine. The source code is the source code for ROM 3.
>

But with the copyright year changed to 1991 instead of 1989.

retrogear

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Feb 19, 2013, 5:54:45 PM2/19/13

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On Tuesday, February 19, 2013 2:57:09 PM UTC-6, D Finnigan wrote:
> Stavros Karatsoridis wrote: > > Nope. You won't have a ROM 04. > > The Mark Twain prototypes I've seen all have ROM 3 in them. The > project never got far enough for a new ROM to be written for the > machine. The source code is the source code for ROM 3. > But with the copyright year changed to 1991 instead of 1989.

so much for wishful thinking. at least I can byte compare the result with the original ROM 03

Steven Hirsch

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Feb 19, 2013, 9:39:40 PM2/19/13

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I still think it's very much worth doing, particularly if you can get it
byte-accurate.

Steve

retrogear

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Feb 27, 2013, 11:30:20 AM2/27/13

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On Tuesday, February 19, 2013 2:57:09 PM UTC-6, D Finnigan wrote:

> Stavros Karatsoridis wrote: > > Nope. You won't have a ROM 04. > > The Mark Twain prototypes I've seen all have ROM 3 in them. The > project never got far enough for a new ROM to be written for the > machine. The source code is the source code for ROM 3. > But with the copyright year changed to 1991 instead of 1989.

Apparently the changes by 1991 included tools added to the ROM 03 firmware which are not present in the ROM 03 binary I have. Was there newer releases of ROM 03 firmware in systems that were sold? I am wading through the source trying to decide what belongs and what got left out. The notes indicate the changes were made to incorporate System 6.0.1. I am having fun mapping out the firmware and putting it all together. I will share my findings eventually. If this is documented somewhere already, let me know.