68kMLA Classic Interface

This is a version of the 68kMLA forums for viewing on your favorite old mac. Visitors on modern platforms may prefer the main site.

Click here to select a new forum.
Is there anything remarkable about this ROM from a Mac 10 HDD?
Posted by: olePigeon on 2025-11-15 20:17:33
I acquired a Paradise Systems Mac 10 hard drive. Unfortunately the 10MB Rodime drive in it was toast. Annoyingly, the HDD's sector map was not filled in. So I don't know if I can find a compatible HDD. I've heard that MFM drives are notoriously picky when it comes to what drives will work with which controllers.

I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for, but I was hoping someone could take a peak at this ROM. Maybe it has the sector info in there? Or by some chance, maybe it also works with a 20MB drive? There was a 20MB version as well. The manual seems to indicate the controller board was the same for both, but I don't know about the ROM.

I emailed Petar from Petar's Place in hopes of getting a copy of his ROM so I could compare it. Not sure if he reads his emails, though.

In any event, it's good to have a copy. Someone can archive it somewhere.

Incidentally, this was the very first ROM I've ever read from my EPROM programmer. 🙂
Posted by: olePigeon on 2025-11-23 23:08:05
Turns out the dump was bad. My cheap reader just couldn't read the ROM reliably. Apparently the chip is on its way out, but not complete. Turns out Bitsavers is near by to me. He had a period correct commercial EPROM programmer and he was able to verify the ROM and make a clean dump. Right tool for the right job.

Since I didn't have a suitable drive, I connected the controller board to a 20MB 5.25" MFM drive. It was able to detect it, format it, and create partitions. Only down side is that the ROM makes the drive appear as a 10MB no matter what. Hopefully I can get a copy of the 20MB ROM at some point. Or perhaps find a way to modify this one.

Posted by: luRaichu on 2025-12-02 15:21:21
My cheap reader just couldn't read the ROM reliably
Which one do you have? I've read and burned ROMs just fine with the Relatively Universal ROM Programmer
Posted by: olePigeon on 2025-12-03 08:26:27
Which one do you have? I've read and burned ROMs just fine with the Relatively Universal ROM Programmer
I have a GQ-4x4 (PRG-113) programmer. I was able to read other ROMs just fine such as the Lisa upgrade ROMs or my Macintosh Plus ROMs. It was only having problems with this specific 2716 EPROM.
Posted by: luRaichu on 2025-12-03 10:16:24
2716 ROMs are supported by the Relatively Universal ROM Programmer, but you don't actually need it if you only want to read out a ROM.
A plain microcontroller can be used. See https://www.nycresistor.com/2012/07/07/stick-a-straw-in-its-brain-and-suck-how-to-read-a-rom/
1