19th April 2021

We now have ProDOS! Jeffs been working hard at getting a ProDOS image into a ROM slot, and thanks to some assistance from Peter Ferrie (qkumba) and John Brooks we now have ProDOS 2.4.2 running on the new boards! This means you can boot ProDOS instantly.

ProDOS 8 v2.4.2 for ROMX also contains the ROMX driver for our real-time clock :) And the great news is that the method used to get this working can be applied to other DOS versions as well.

In other news we have a bunch of PCB's currently on order including panels for ROMXc :

ROMXe :

24 Pin and 28 Pin Text ROMs :

Plus there are programming adapter and assembly jig PCB's on order. The above panels use v-scoring to separate the boards, though ROMXe and ROMXc have the sides and corners routered in addition to horizontal v-scores. Solder paste stencils for these boards are also on order.

We also slipped in a MAP ROM adapter:

The MAP ROM Override board allows you to lock the keyboard MAP ROM to the first or second keymap - allowing you to use the Keyboard switch on an Apple //c (or International Apple //e) to switch in only the video ROM set.

The boards should be here in a week or two, giving some time to get everything else ready.

While ordering components we ran into the worldwide chip shortage issue. We couldn't get the usual CPLD that we've been using and had to jump up a speed grade (and price level!) to get stock. We basically ordered the last remaining parts that Mouser had, and the manufacturer is not supplying any of the major distributors with new stock until June! Hopefully we have enough parts on hand to meet initial demand.

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