Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Marketplace => Topic started by: Lokki on February 09, 2007, 08:49:57 AM
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Hi guys,
I'm just wondering if these look legit to you?
No offense intended to the seller or anything, I just see a lot of variation in the stickers on 3.1 ROMs.
Ebay ROMs
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There are several different kinds of labels for all "legit" roms too.. Back in the mid 90s there were probably some ESCOM burned 3.1 chips available, but nowadays, who knows. There have been no mask rom 3.1 chips to my knowledge, only burned ones. Some with a window under the sticker, some windowless.
Have you noticed how there's a neverending supply of ROM chips for each model still in every dealer's catalogue?
I'm pretty sure each dealer just burns them on demand and then pays Amigainc some royalties for them.. At least the idealist in me believes they pay. :-)
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lol, fair enough. Thanks for that. :)
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Jope : not exactly true... i am writing an ebay guide on this subject.
For the bid, others 3.1 kickstart (A1200, A4000..) are obviously BURNED eproms too !
luckystrike_it (http://search.ebay.com.au/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZluckystrikeQ5fit) you REALLY sucks !
Moreover official kickstart are still sold online (or by ebayers) like Vesalia (germany), high-tech-beautiful (germany+uk aka GTI/schatztruhe), halbvier (germany), kdhdat66 (germany) or amigakit_dot_com (uk) for often less EUR than luckystrike_it copies... !
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Oh, ok... definitely a case of the buyer needing to be wary then.
If these are copies it's a bit rude putting the copyright logo on the sticker...
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I got mine from AmigaKit ... well chuffed :-D
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oh just looking at his picture the spidey sense is going completely :crazy:
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Is everybody sure these are "legit" 3.1 roms that are sold by amiga dealers? When did Amiga Inc. make these new roms? Did they make new manuals for the system at the same time? If they are still producing them are they still supporting them? Are they working on updates (3.2)? Are they still making and selling 3.1 OS disks or 3.5 CD's or 3.9 CD's? There may be a little NOS still floating around but other than that no matter who you buy from there is a very good chance that if they are new roms that they are not made and manufactured by Amiga inc. If Amiga Inc. is still actively making, supporting, and selling 3.1 roms than by all means buy from them but I don't think this is the case. If you need a new alternator for your 94 Chevy do you just go to junk-yards hoping to find an original or do you buy a remanufactured or aftermarket alternator? Think about it.
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I would've thought that when they were originally made Commodore or whoever would have wanted to be prepared for every man and his dog to want their machine upgraded?
Between that kind of volume and the pirating I'm not really surprised if there are still legit ones floating around in the wild.
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bigdan wrote:
not exactly true... i am writing an ebay guide on this subject.
Ah, hope I don't miss it. I'm eager to read any new info about this. :-)
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Jope wrote:
There have been no mask rom 3.1 chips to my knowledge, only burned ones.
Yes there were.
(http://www.amiga-hardware.com/display_photos/roms31.jpg)
If anyone can help me with my other thread about Kickstarts I would be grateful. I need to answer a few questions.
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27218
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alexh wrote:
Yes there were.
Yep, those are the same one's in my Miggy right now
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alexh wrote:
Yes there were.
Amazing. :-)
Do you know whether these were sold as upgrades or inside Amiga Technologies made computers, or both?
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Jope : both, that's true A1200 kickstart (Alex picture) as sold by Vesalia, KDH, GTI or Amigakit (non exhaustive list).
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Lokki wrote:
I'm just wondering if these look legit to you?
Hmmm, looking back thru their ebay history they've sold quite a few.
The labels on their 40.63 ROMs aren't consistant
(http://i7.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/89/23/637e_1_b.JPG)
(http://i6.ebayimg.com/03/i/08/df/f9/07_1_b.JPG)
Then compare to the one on amiga-hardware.com
(http://amiga-hardware.com/display_photos/roms31_2.jpg)
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Bigdan, when did you last buy a kickstart rom set?
Thinking about it, I have seen that picture before but I seem to have forgotten all about it.. All the 3.1 ROMs I've ever had were EPROMs with varying kinds of stickers on top of them.
Actually one set I have is burned to PLCC proms with a personality module and a sticker with ESCOM copyrights:
http://jope.fi/ks31pm.jpg
http://jope.fi/ks31rev.jpg
Sorry for the blurry shots, that's just about the best the Canon A520's macro mode can do this close.
Unfortunately this set no longer works. As you can see, there are exposed pins on the back of the casing and they shorted against my RBM Tower case one time.. The Roms are 99% working, but a few bits have changed.
I have also had sets like this, which are indeed EPROMS with a full length sticker on top:
http://www.vesalia.de/thumbs/kickstart-1-thumb.jpg
Vesalia's details page no longer shows chips like that, but instead they have the MX Mask Roms.
Another set like that:
http://www.planetmulti.de/v2/pic/A4000_Motherboard_big.jpg
So.. Some have more professional looking stickers and some are just dot matrix printed to Avery sticker sheets. If you want to have a 100% legal kickstart, who do you trust?
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@ BigDan :
I bought last week 3.1 ROMs for my A1200 from Vesalia and I paid 17.90 euros + 7.80 euros for shipping from Germany to France so this seller is not asking too much at 19.99 euros + 6 euros for postage.
Whether it is legal is another matter, of course !
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I think that a lot of the companies had licenses to make their own after the mask roms ran out.
I found it strange that there is a 16-bit one marked 40.68 1997. Everyone knows that 40.63 is the widely distributed version.
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I have also had sets like this, which are indeed EPROMS with a full length sticker on top:
http://www.vesalia.de/thumbs/kickstart-1-thumb.jpg
Vesalia's details page no longer shows chips like that, but instead they have the MX Mask Roms.
Another set like that:
http://www.planetmulti.de/v2/pic/A4000_Motherboard_big.jpg
These are original Kickstarts (they were sold with a kind of certificate), all other labels are selfmade (except laser of course).
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Wow. That was some can of worms right there.
Reckon I'll leave 3.1s on ebay alone until my head finishes spinning.