Presently, I have three IIGS chassis:
- ROM 03, plain case in grade-A condition (showroom quality), "prototype" ROMs. I couldn't ask for a nicer specimen. I was even able to scrub its little rubber feet clean to the pristine platinum color. For now, this is my favorite. Pictured above. The white labels on the FC and FE ROMs show part numbers 341-0728 and 341-0749.
- ROM 03, Woz case in grade-C condition (a couple chips in the finish, ugh). Was supposed to be my favorite, but I don't like the case's condition. Backup favorite. Interestingly, its FC ROM is also a 341-0728.
- ROM 01, plain case in grade-C condition (yellowed, dirty, no power supply, left over from a brief year-2000 IIGS experiment that I mostly donated to public schools). For parts.
I've also received a 3.5" floppy drive, so I can actually boot up California Games and watch it on the composite output, instead of just doing the diagnostic test on the machines.
The CV Technologies GS Memory card is here and tests just fine, but the funny thing about it is, if you put a card in the piggyback slot, and put the top on the GS, the piggybacked card shorts against the case's RF shield, which fortunately did not cost me a power supply or logic board to discover. But it is amusing. Solutions to the problem include not piggybacking a card (most likely), or insulating the case (less likely).
I'm humbly waiting on the postman to deliver Toolbox Reference, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, as well as the GS/OS Reference, my CF card adapter, and a couple other goodies. I've read nearly every book and all the sample source code I could find, and I'm literally itching to begin development.
If you go to amazon.com and search for "cpu stand," you'll find a few nice CPU stands that will nicely accomodate a vertical IIGS, even with a fairly-close color match.
Although I will be trying a JAMMA CGA to VGA conversion box, I'm also going to try a very highly recommended combination of GS-to-SCART video cable plugged into SCART to VGA scan converter, which supposedly yields a sharp, shake-free image.
Also, depending on how auctions go this week, I may pick up an accelerator and much more. Wish me luck. I want this waiting/building stage to be over, so I can get down to development, but these are 20 year old computers after all, and there may yet be another few weeks of waiting for all the parts to arrive and be assembled.
I've read every book. I've read mounds of source code. I'm so eager to get started on this, that I've written a few pages of source already. Too bad I can't build it yet. But it won't be long now.
-Chris