what is this? IBM powerstation

From: William Donzelli <william_at_ans.net>
Date: Tue Sep 30 20:14:42 1997

> I've started collecting old IBM machines, (brand loyalty) and today came
> across a machine called an IBM powerstation 550e. it looks very much like an
> apple /// except it has two floppy drives, a db9, rj11,.and 3 db25 ports on
> the back. i havent powered it up yet as i'm still trying to figure out how to
> open it. I'm off work this week, so I cant ask any of the old IBMers what
> this is. anyone know?

It is probably an older RS/6000 - however, I have never heard of a 550e
(then again, IBM makes a lot of weird stuff). The 500 series RS/6000s are
largish deskside towers. The desktop machines are the 200 and 300 series.

Open the thing up! If it is an old RS/6000, it will have a processor board
with eight or so big nasty looking chips - the Power RISC processor. The
only thing that may give you trouble is that the key (if it has one) must
be in the service position to get the cover off.

The RS/6000s really are nice machines, even oldies like the 320s and 930s.

William Donzelli
william_at_ans.net
Received on Tue Sep 30 1997 - 20:14:42 BST