Guys, everyone should have this book by Scott Mueller, "Upgrading and
Repairing PCs". Tis' have good INFO on most PS/2, PS/1 and some late
IBM boxens including the PC, XT and AT in all types, convertible,
5155 portable.
> >>From opening them they are MCA bus with 286, 1mb ram, 20mb? HD and 1.44
> >floppy. They are complete with reference disk(utilities?). I didn't get
> >a keyboard, mouse or monitor with them but they look like typical VGA and
> >IBM miniplug nominal stuff. They are said to be working and look pretty
> >clean.
> Cool... At least you got the reference disk. Keep it around! You will need
> it if the battery dies or if you change the configuration. You can also
> download reference disks from one of IBM's FTP sites, I forget which. Go
> check out comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware and it's FAQ.
>
> >Questions, how fast were the 286s?
> Let me think... The 286 chip was available in 10MHz and 12MHz IIRC, maybe
> another speed too. I can't remember which speed the 50/50Z was.
Nooooo.. Only 10mhz. 50 is 1 wait state (slow) yuk. 50Z is 0ws
(yay and fully maxed out design for performance and MUST use 85ns
or faster simm, (I successfully used 70ns standard parity SIMM on
it and it's 72pin BTW). Way faster than that old AT box and
I think you should consider getting MCA scsi card and move that 486
adapter of yours over to that 50Z. :)) With ram adaper, 16550A
adapter, it would be very nice box. You can use standard generic
keyboard with ps/2 adapter and ps/2 generic mouse on them.
>
> >The hard disk is rather strange with what looks like a 50pin edge
> >connector. Obviously some of the extra connections over normal are
> >power. is the drive MFM, IDE or what?
> Depends. My 50Z has an ESDI drive(and IIRC they shipped with that, too),
> but any PS/2 drive with that connetor should work. What it is is that IBM
> added an HD controller to the HD's main board, so that connector is an MCA
> interface.
Not in this sense. Correctly stated, in IBM's words: for this 50
series uses either MFM/RLL card that plugs into that MCA bus or the
IDE MCA hd and pass thru card called IDE (MCA IDE) on Interposer
Card.
>
> >What other oddities about these?
> Don't you love the way the case comes apart, and that little tool
> underneath the speaker to help take the rest of it apart? Defintley my
> favorite part of the Model 50. I have three 50Z's, one working and two with
> no FD/HD/RAM. I'm thinking of using one as a terminal or something, putting
> in an ethernet card with a boot ROM or something wierd like that. The other
> I'll probably use as a regular PC if I find some free or cheap PS/2 parts.
> All three of the 50Z's were free, my 80 was $50, and the 55sx was free. My
> 30-286 will be gone soon, as I sold it for $10...
:-P
I used that model 30-286 in learning basic AutoCad in highschool
roughly 89's
BTW, got a spare working 1.44 FDD for that 50 series? All I have is
this battle damaged naked 50Z board with CPU and rom with stand up
floppy adaper. Or better yet, any luck finding a spare PS/2 with
386 or better boxen?
Oh, Allison, you might be much in ahead and investigate this www site
for motherboard upgrade for that one of your box:
http://www.neointeractive.com/
Jason D.
>
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email: jpero_at_cgo.wave.ca
Pero, Jason D.
Received on Fri Mar 20 1998 - 20:00:13 GMT