-----Original Message-----
From: Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com <Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, November 15, 1999 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: New Finds
>>> 12. IBM PS/2 model 70 portable (joke) seems to be a 386 with 12 meg
HD.
>>> Pretty heavy for a portable and only runs with a cord plugged into the
wall.
>>
>> ah yes, the P70. gas plasma display so that's why it can only run on ac
>> power. make sure your floppy drive works, there was an ECA about that.
they
>> seem to sell pretty good around this area, although i have spotted one
in a
>> computer junk store for $35, i'm holding off for cheaper. When it was
new, it
>> sold for over $7k.
>
>$7k? Ouch!!
>
>I passed one up a couple of weeks ago. Seller was asking 95 pounds, was
>prepared to sell for 80, but no less - she claimed the Windows 95
installation
>on the hard drive was worth that. I told her just what I would do if I
got a
>machine with Windows 95 on it... (hint: it involves a disk partitioning
tool and
>a Linux distribution kit)
>
>Philip.
>
>
Are you sure this was a P70 (which usually shipped with 386s) and not a P75
(which usually shipped with 486 or better processors)? I tried a Win '95
installation on my 4MB RAM/120 MB HD/386 P70, and from "power on" to "ready
to use" took over two minutes. Trying to open any windows or run any
applications caused a frenzy of drive activity (reading and writing to the
swapfile, I suspect). I can't imagine anyone actually using a P70 running
Win '95. Running Windows 3.11 though, they were decent portables for their
time - nice crisp display, good keyboard. Very capable "get some work done
in your hotel room" computers.
I know several people who have added MCA SCSI cards to the internal
expansion slot, and use their P70s as portable SCSI device testers.
Cheers,
Mark.
Received on Mon Nov 15 1999 - 16:31:31 GMT