Best looking desktop computer

[Zylstra]

wow.  I have never seen one of those.  What year?  Specs..?

I have one in my basement... not sure of my exact model, they had a habit of not writing down the models at that time.

Its an IBM PS/2 series (Guess why it has that title!).
Right around 1986, it had 2MB of RAM, and a 4MHz processor (though, after research, I found out it might be around 10MHz, I have no way of knowing though... the Microsoft System Information program said 4MHz)
I read that originally, these came with a 30MB drive, mine had 80MB, crashed in 2002.
The computer itself still works, it just doesnt have a drive or an operating system.

I believe the network card, which is standard Ethernet and probably added much later on, is 1MBPS.

[paudashlake]

Wow...Time to move on! haha

[BC_Programmer]

the IBM PS/2 used a 286 processor, and IIRC the "slowest" PC was 4.77Mhz, the original IBM PC (which I depicted) ran at this speed. An interesting tidbit is that the ISA bus runs at 4.77Mhz for this very reason.

The PS/2 was IBM's attempt to retake the clone market spawned by the original PC, by introducing and using a patented MCA (Micro Channel Architecture) which offered higher performance and more features (such as auto-configuration) then the ISA bus, IBM hoped it could squash the clone market and re-assert it's dominance in the industry it helped create.

As you can guess that plan kind of failed...

[Zylstra]

BC_Programmer:
Think its possibly that this is one of the first series, then?

Also, what on earth kind of hard drive connector is in that thing... I could never find it on the Internet.

[BC_Programmer]

It's probably either SCSI or ESDI.

the IBM PC, and the PC-XT, were the only two PC's that had a 4.77Mhz processor- 8088 and 8086 respectively.  that one looks more like the 386 model (2MB RAM, 40MB HD) that came out later, and the first PS/2 used a 286 processor at 12mhz.

[Zylstra]

It's probably either SCSI or ESDI.

Doesnt appear to be either, after I looked them up.

[BC_Programmer]

could be MFM or RLL...

Nope- I looked it up, it's a proprietary connector.

[computeruler]

To ebay!

[Dias de verano]

the IBM PS/2 used a 286 processor

Not exactly. Various models had 286, 386, 486 or Pentium processors. I had a Model 80 PS/2 with a 16 MHz 386 DX processor and 4 MB of RAM running Windows 3.11. It had 2 x 110 MB ESDI hard drives. Some PS/2s used SCSI hard drives.

[Dias de verano]

Its an IBM PS/2 series (Guess why it has that title!).

Personal System/2 maybe?

[BC_Programmer]

Not exactly. Various models had 286, 386, 486 or Pentium processors. I had a Model 80 PS/2 with a 16 MHz 386 DX processor and 4 MB of RAM running Windows 3.11. It had 2 x 110 MB ESDI hard drives. Some PS/2s used SCSI hard drives.

I know- I should have said the earliest PS/2, since the PS/1 used a 8088 or 8086 processor.

Some PS/2's had ISA architecture too.

And of course it's legacy lives on with the keyboard and mouse ports on most computers.

[Zylstra]

So, what kind of hard drive connector would I have then? I'll have to take a picture of the drive and its connector some day...

[computeruler]

You could always look for one on ebay

[Zylstra]

You could always look for one on ebay

I looked once, however, the two I found didnt have good descriptions.


Just did some more research, I read that its ESDI, and looked up ESDI, but, they dont look the same.
The pins are inverted, you stick the hard drive into something, you dont stick something into it. ESDI works like this, but, my drive has more pins... ESDI is also split into two, mine is not. The pins run the entire length of the drive.

I'm not sure what to think here.

[BC_Programmer]

proprietary. There was also an edge connector in some models; like the side of a card.