On Tue, 18 Dec 2001, Doc Shipley wrote:
> Hi, all.
> I had sort of gotten the impression that PCs don't count on this list.
> I have a 5870-121 that I snarked recently, with 4 megs of RAM and a
> 120M ESDI drive. I'm wondering what I want to put on it as OS. I have
> plenty of Linux/NetBSD critters. I was thinking OS/2, but I threw v3.0
> Warp on Saturday night, but it's slow as dirt with 4 megs. Oh, yeah. It
> had the original reference disk in the floppy drive. I think that's
> really why I bought it.
You might not want to use the original reference disk, as it probably has
been updated since then, and the update will be on the FTP site
(
ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/refdisks/).
As far as an OS, Linux and NetBSD will both work. Linux is a bit more
stable, but NetBSD is the better OS, and the stability will be perfect by
next release, and that should be soon. BTW, Warp 4 should run faster than
Warp 3 with a small amount of RAM like that.
> I also have a Model 25 386dx/16 which is one of my favorites. It had
> a token-ring ISA adapter, as well as an 8-bit ethernet adapter I can't
> ID, no hard-drive, and was set up to netboot. I finally found the J-leg
> 387 for it, stuck in a 500m drive with EZ-drive, and run PC-DOS &
> Lemmings, mostly.
This machine isn't really a PS/2 in the conventional sense. Not a
microchannel box. Which means it's probably less interesting than that
70.
> Main questions are, how uncommon are they (I know how cool they are),
> is either one worth anything, and is there a contemporary Unix that'll
> run on the model 70? Um, that's actually available I mean. All I need is
> another Ultrix quest.
PS/2's are *extremely* common in that HUMONGOUS amounts of them were sold
to (and many are still running at) many financial institutions. They are
beautiful machines that are rock solid, are built like tanks, and never,
ever break.
> Corollary questions: I mentioned earlier that I've found PS/2 adapters
> in 7012 series RS/6ks. I still have 'em. The 8514/A with the 512k
> daughterboard is recognized in the model 70 by the reference utility,
> but Warp pukes on it, and insists on 640x480x16 VGA settings. Did I miss
> something? Do I need to "copy the options disk" even though Setup
> already sees it?
I believe you should use the latest option disk. BTW, there is no such
thing as an "RS/6000-specific" or "PS/2-specific" option card.
Microchannel is microchannel.
> And, I have the Orchid board with the oddball video output. Are
> there cables for that? Will it drive a standard multi-sync display? Is
> it worth messing with?
I could give you a copy of my technical docs for this card, if you want.
> It's so nice to have real brains to pick.
You're absolutely welcome.
Peace... Sridhar
Received on Wed Dec 19 2001 - 06:52:54 GMT