Yes, the desire was for a reliable supply of 32-bit clean ROMs for the SE/30 to enable the various functions that require that.
The IIfx and IIsi were the focus because there were actual ROM modules for those two machines in the wild. There were no IIci ROM modules (all soldered to main board) as far as anyone could tell.
So when Gamba wrote his page, he was focused on what folks could actually get/find and the IIfx and IIsi ROM modules were the only 32-bit clean modules in existence. They were rare and hard to find. There was no point in mentioning a IIci module, because there were none for people to find.
Our project was mainly focused on finding a way to supply 32-bit clean ROM modules for the SE/30 so that it would no longer be down to luck (or killing a IIfx). I guess it also meant killing a IIsi if one found one with a ROM module installed, but folks cared less about that. IIsi's were in the "give them away" price range at that point in time.
I'm not sure if it's clear from Gamba's site, but he hand produced the circuit board for that ROM module and I supplied the programmed chips. We (I) had some doubts about how the ROM code would translate from dumps made by utilities such as CopyROM, so I wanted to copy actual ROM chips.
So what actual ROM chips did we have on hand? I've never owned a IIsi. Years ago, I had a IIsi main board, but long since (well before 2003) sold it. I don't think I had a IIfx at that point in time and I'm not sure I would have risked damaging the ROM SIMM if I had.
I had my original IIci, which had bodge wires to bypass capacitor goo leakage from 1995, and since ignorant 1995 Jeff (trag) replaced the caps with identical electrolytic caps, they were starting to leak again. Also, the SIMM sockets had plastic tabs and at least one had cracked. And I had a shiny new service part IIci board I lucked into (although such parts were much more common and cheap at the time).
So I pulled the ROMs from my old IIci (non destructively) and got them copied at Howard Electronics here in Austin. This was before I owned a chip programmer. At some point in Gamba's and my correspondence, I mention having bought a chip programmer, but that's a ways along.
A major problem, and the reason why only one module was made is that the ROM SIMMs are .047" (1.27 mm) thick and the photo-resist coated boards Gamba was working with are the standard (now) .063" (1.6 mm) thickness. We didn't realize this until after the SIMM was built.
After the ROM was made, Gamba hand-filed one side of the edge of the board down from .063" to .050" and did a good enough job for it to work in a socket. But he never wanted to do that again. (Remember, SIMMs have identical connectors/pins on both sides, so one side can be sacrificed.)
One last key fact is to remember that having PCBs made back in 2003 was uber-expensive. There were a few places that would run off a 2-layer design for under $100, but with very stringent conditions about what was supported and one of the conditions was always .063" thick. And you got 2 or 4 boards total at a cost well over $20 per board. You could try to sneak a panel into that special...
Anything that wasn't one of the 2-layer specials (special thickness, e.g., or 4-layers) started with a ~$500 tooling fee and had per-board charges that meant that if you were ordering fewer than 50 or 100 you'd be paying over $20 per board.
Seed Studio and now JLCPCB changed the hobbyist world for PCB making.
So the IIci was used because that's the chips I had available to copy. The IIsi and IIfx were otherwise the focus, because those were the only modules folks had a hope of finding on their own.
We never made another one, because the hand fabrication was traumatic, and PCB fabrication was too expensive at the time. Folks were selling SE/30s for $10 - $50 or giving them away at the time. They (mostly) weren't going to pay more than $10 for a ROM module. Certainly, we were not going to find a hundred or two hundred folks willing to pay $50/module to make it practical to have a 100 of the boards made.
Gamba was involved because of his love and support for the SE/30. I think I was involved partly by the chance of us discussing it on "LEM Compact Macs", but also because I had built the Rev. C Beige G3 ROM the previous year. I sold about 100 of those for between $50 and $100.
For those, I payed out the almost $1500 to have the boards fabricated... I can't remember if I got 100 or 200 boards in that order. Contrast that with ordering 20 more of the boards built a few years ago for the pEX ROM project. 20 of the exact same design, 4-layer boards after 2020 cost me $53+ from JLCPCB.
The IIfx and IIsi were the focus because there were actual ROM modules for those two machines in the wild. There were no IIci ROM modules (all soldered to main board) as far as anyone could tell.
So when Gamba wrote his page, he was focused on what folks could actually get/find and the IIfx and IIsi ROM modules were the only 32-bit clean modules in existence. They were rare and hard to find. There was no point in mentioning a IIci module, because there were none for people to find.
Our project was mainly focused on finding a way to supply 32-bit clean ROM modules for the SE/30 so that it would no longer be down to luck (or killing a IIfx). I guess it also meant killing a IIsi if one found one with a ROM module installed, but folks cared less about that. IIsi's were in the "give them away" price range at that point in time.
I'm not sure if it's clear from Gamba's site, but he hand produced the circuit board for that ROM module and I supplied the programmed chips. We (I) had some doubts about how the ROM code would translate from dumps made by utilities such as CopyROM, so I wanted to copy actual ROM chips.
So what actual ROM chips did we have on hand? I've never owned a IIsi. Years ago, I had a IIsi main board, but long since (well before 2003) sold it. I don't think I had a IIfx at that point in time and I'm not sure I would have risked damaging the ROM SIMM if I had.
I had my original IIci, which had bodge wires to bypass capacitor goo leakage from 1995, and since ignorant 1995 Jeff (trag) replaced the caps with identical electrolytic caps, they were starting to leak again. Also, the SIMM sockets had plastic tabs and at least one had cracked. And I had a shiny new service part IIci board I lucked into (although such parts were much more common and cheap at the time).
So I pulled the ROMs from my old IIci (non destructively) and got them copied at Howard Electronics here in Austin. This was before I owned a chip programmer. At some point in Gamba's and my correspondence, I mention having bought a chip programmer, but that's a ways along.
A major problem, and the reason why only one module was made is that the ROM SIMMs are .047" (1.27 mm) thick and the photo-resist coated boards Gamba was working with are the standard (now) .063" (1.6 mm) thickness. We didn't realize this until after the SIMM was built.
After the ROM was made, Gamba hand-filed one side of the edge of the board down from .063" to .050" and did a good enough job for it to work in a socket. But he never wanted to do that again. (Remember, SIMMs have identical connectors/pins on both sides, so one side can be sacrificed.)
One last key fact is to remember that having PCBs made back in 2003 was uber-expensive. There were a few places that would run off a 2-layer design for under $100, but with very stringent conditions about what was supported and one of the conditions was always .063" thick. And you got 2 or 4 boards total at a cost well over $20 per board. You could try to sneak a panel into that special...
Anything that wasn't one of the 2-layer specials (special thickness, e.g., or 4-layers) started with a ~$500 tooling fee and had per-board charges that meant that if you were ordering fewer than 50 or 100 you'd be paying over $20 per board.
Seed Studio and now JLCPCB changed the hobbyist world for PCB making.
So the IIci was used because that's the chips I had available to copy. The IIsi and IIfx were otherwise the focus, because those were the only modules folks had a hope of finding on their own.
We never made another one, because the hand fabrication was traumatic, and PCB fabrication was too expensive at the time. Folks were selling SE/30s for $10 - $50 or giving them away at the time. They (mostly) weren't going to pay more than $10 for a ROM module. Certainly, we were not going to find a hundred or two hundred folks willing to pay $50/module to make it practical to have a 100 of the boards made.
Gamba was involved because of his love and support for the SE/30. I think I was involved partly by the chance of us discussing it on "LEM Compact Macs", but also because I had built the Rev. C Beige G3 ROM the previous year. I sold about 100 of those for between $50 and $100.
For those, I payed out the almost $1500 to have the boards fabricated... I can't remember if I got 100 or 200 boards in that order. Contrast that with ordering 20 more of the boards built a few years ago for the pEX ROM project. 20 of the exact same design, 4-layer boards after 2020 cost me $53+ from JLCPCB.
