Smokey's PS/2 and MCA page

I'll make you an offer you can't refuse...

I have several XGA-2 cards available for just $15 including shipping. These cards ROCK, letting you do 800x600x8bit color with Win95/98.

I also have plenty of 3Com 3c529TP Network cards for $5 including shipping to US addresses, and $5 each plus shipping to international addresses. Shipping to the EU usually runs $15 for the first card, and $5 for every 2 cards after that. 

I'm looking for:

My Computers and their stories:

Model 8580-071 (Yogi):

My Dad calls me up and that he's picked up a computer. When I inquire as to the type, model, style, etc. all he says is that it's an IBM. Inquire further as to what he paid for it, and what accessories he has, he says he got it free at the local Amateur Radio Club meeting, and that it's a big heavy box with nothing else. 

Being the computer nerd of the family, and living 3 hours away, I decide to take a weekend to go and see the parents and this computer that he's picked up for free. When I arrive, he produces this huge box, which I proceed to open. Not having ever seen an MCA machine before, I knew I was f**ked. I convinced the folks that they needed something a little more modern (they picked up an e-Machines Celeron 566 with all the stuff from Costco instead) and I came home with the "box". 

When I got home and got on the computer to find out what the hell I had, I started hunting around for websites about PS/2 machines. I found out that this was a MicroChannel Architecture machine, and then set about finding parts for it. After looking on the web, I found exactly ZERO sites selling MCA cards. Then I figured I'd look on eBay. BINGO!!! I found a wealth of parts there, and bought 2 F7F7 memory cards, a 3COM 3c509 MCA, and a couple of 3270 emulation cards. Later I got 2 SIMMs to fill the card, and was running with a total of 3072 kb of RAM and WFW 3.11. Later I picked up an AHA-1640 SCSI card and 2 - 1.08Gb SCSI drives and put them in as well.

Currently, Yogi is running Winblows95 with 2.16Gb of hard drive space, 9MB of RAM, Ethernet card, and 2 1.44Mb floppy drives. The 70MB ESDI drive and controller card are still inside the case, but have been unplugged and are not being used.

Model 8550Z (BooBoo):

After having had the 8580 for a while, and finding the PS/2 Newsgroup on the Usenet, I began looking around for more PS/2 stuff in my area. After having scoured the computer shops, and finding none, I thought I'd try the thrift stores for some deals. I came across a lonely Model 50Z with a price tag of $1.99. I couldn't pass this up at all, so I brought it home. I then found out why it was only $2 - the case was locked. After a quick message to the newsgroup, Peter Wendt gave me complete instructions on how to get it open, and I did.

What I found inside was a 1.44Mb floppy drive, an external 5.25" adaptor set (card and dummy drive) and a 30Mb HD. I downloaded the configuration disk and went to format the disk to install MS-DOS 6.22 and WFW 3.11 to play around with it. The drive began coming up with all kinds of errors, so I went searching for them. Rich Wolos was gracious enough to sell me a 60Mb drive, 4 - 2Mb SIMMs, and the 486 upgrade board NOS/NIB for a great price. I received all of this, installed the hardware, and the intended software, and everything's now working beautifully.

BooBoo's current configuration is: 486 CPU, 3072kb RAM, 60Mb HD, running WFW3.11. It's not networked yet (hence the request for the 3COM card), and isn't running anything, but it is running.

Update: I picked up a network card, and it's now part of the system. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with it right now, but I'm leaning to turning this into a linux box

Model 8530-021:

I just picked up this unit today (25 August 2000) and the only thing I've done is open it up to see that it's full of dust and crap. I'll be blowing it out and I'll give it a smoke test on the bench. I'll report more as I go along. This box may end up as a Packet Radio terminal, or it may go up for auction or sale.

 

last fucked with 8/8/2001