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Should I get a 5151 or a 5153 monitor?

It’s funny, mainframe capable storage even to this day still emulates the IBM 33xx series drives, usually 3390.
 
Never paid much attention to the later IBM mainframes. I left the mainframe scene about 1986 with the ETA-10 super. After that it was pretty clear that microprocessors would dominate the world.
 
my first ibm was a 5160 XT. And allow me to rephrase. I have used MFM hard drives in my own.machine while they were still being sold..


Doesnt quite roll off the tongue
Two of my ST-225s have been in service with me since the late 90s. I think they are some of the best drives ever produced
 
Red Hill Computers was saying back in the 90's that the ST-225 was the single most reliable and most long-living drive they ever saw. The oldest of them are now 39 years old. They'll hit the far end of the bathtub eventually but for now expect them to keep working unless you really abuse them.
 
Oddly enough I had a book on hard disk data recovery many years ago that slagged the ST-225 repeatedly; the author had a real chip on his shoulder about them. I don’t remotely remember all the specifics, but one that stood out was he harped on the 225 needing extra short mounting screws if you used the upper holes, claiming he’d seen multiple units damaged by people denting the housing with “normal length” ones. Gotta say, that’s more of a problem between the ears of the gorilla with the screwdriver than the drive itself…
 
Well, I think they mean out of "half height" ST412-interface 5.25" drives.

There are, for example, plenty of, say, Diablo 30 drives around.
I might not be reading you correctly here but I find that odd since I've only seen in person (not photos or in museums) four Diablo drives in my entire life, all owned by people who highly prize them whereas I can count with two hands the number of 225's I personally own.
 
You used an IBM 3330? My 5150 had a Shugart SA-1002 on it.
I just finished fixing-up a Shugart SA604 the other week, was "left for the dead" when I got it, making all sorts of horrible noises. I've got a Shugart SA-1008 in my WANG LVP-2200 that I haven't gotten to yet.

3 bad tracks -- not bad considering the age of the drive. I also love the external "stepper arm" assembly - first time I've seen something like this:
1674789918783.png 1674789942822.png 1674790163589.png 1674790074804.png 1674790100881.png

1674789971237.png
 
I've got a unit with a Shugart SA 4104--14" drive. Haven't powered it up in years. 120VAC nameplate says 12A. Takes awhile to get up to speed. Boasts a formatted capacity of about 44 MB. At the time, Shugart marketing described it as "compact". Has a GPIB controller board done by Microsystem Associates--footprint of the controller matches the drive's footprint.
 
Personally, I think you did fine on your purchases. It's always nice to get something cheap or free, but it can take quite a long time before you come across something you really want. There's nothing wrong with spending a little more to get what you want right away.

On the 5151 vs 5153 question. If only one I would choose the 5151. It is iconic and the original and it is much easier to read. For word processing, spreadsheet and database software running in text mode the 5151 was always my favorite. We did upgrade to Hercules and ran some games on the 5151. But our 5150 system was not for gaming but mostly for work.

Gaming back then would have been on a C64 or CoCo, or Atari, etc.

On the other hand, the 5150 and 5160 and 5162 all suport having BOTH a mono screen and a color screen at the same time. I have that setup now on my 5162. If I'd have had that back in the old days we would have used the computer in mono for our work. Then switched to the CGA after hours for some games in color. Although I must say I was pretty disappointed in some games on the CGA after I was used to seeing them in Hercules.

These days, if you will be mostly using the 5150 with PC games then most would probably choose the 5153. But for business apps it is really hard to look at that screen all day.

Seaken
 
Personally, I think you did fine on your purchases. It's always nice to get something cheap or free, but it can take quite a long time before you come across something you really want. There's nothing wrong with spending a little more to get what you want right away.

On the 5151 vs 5153 question. If only one I would choose the 5151. It is iconic and the original and it is much easier to read. For word processing, spreadsheet and database software running in text mode the 5151 was always my favorite. We did upgrade to Hercules and ran some games on the 5151. But our 5150 system was not for gaming but mostly for work.

Gaming back then would have been on a C64 or CoCo, or Atari, etc.

On the other hand, the 5150 and 5160 and 5162 all suport having BOTH a mono screen and a color screen at the same time. I have that setup now on my 5162. If I'd have had that back in the old days we would have used the computer in mono for our work. Then switched to the CGA after hours for some games in color. Although I must say I was pretty disappointed in some games on the CGA after I was used to seeing them in Hercules.

These days, if you will be mostly using the 5150 with PC games then most would probably choose the 5153. But for business apps it is really hard to look at that screen all day.

Seaken
Yeah, most of the reason that my purchases are a bit inflated is because A. I wanted to get it quickly and B. I wanted to make sure the stuff was going to work (e.g. the keyboard, was a bit expensive but it was the only one I could find that was unmodded, "tested and working", and in good shape). I took a risk on the monitor, but if it does work I will be happy since it's in good shape. I'll be receiving the monitor tomorrow and the keyboard on Tuesday. I'll post a pic for you guys once I get the monitor.

I came to a very similar conclusion on the 5151 vs 5153 question.
 
On the other hand, the 5150 and 5160 and 5162 all suport having BOTH a mono screen and a color screen at the same time. I have that setup now on my 5162. If I'd have had that back in the old days we would have used the computer in mono for our work. Then switched to the CGA after hours for some games in color. Although I must say I was pretty disappointed in some games on the CGA after I was used to seeing them in Hercules.

FWIW, if I had both MDA and CGA cards in a machine I’d probably get a composite color monitor instead of a 5153 for the CGA card. Some stuff will look a little worse (and 80 column text will be utterly hopeless, but that’s what the mono screen is for), but games that specifically support composite color will look a lot better.
 
Yes, except that my CGA card is not the original IBM CGA card and mine does not support composite output. My XT-286 has an IBM MDA card but an clone CGA card. Back in the day I would have just played some games on Hercules. But my current XT-286 does not have a Hercules card. Mono and CGA only.
 
I can say with 100% certainty the 5155 psu is complete garbage. The rest.. I dunno. They work or they dont.. seems to be no grey area. All but one of mine has an original psu.
Interesting finding this remark.

I think the 5155 psu is probably one of the better designed computer SMPS I have ever worked on. Straightforward, very easy to repair (with the documentation), good over-voltage and over current protection.

Admittedly not the higher range output power of many later computer psu's, but it still can support one Hard drive added to the 5155 while still powering the Amber VDU in there. It has a very interesting system for boosting and then regulating the supply for the VDU, that I have not seen in other supplies. It also sported very good quality transformers with generous insulation making failure of those unlikely. Like any aged psu though, the electrolytics may require attention at some point.

I think what happened was that lot of people couldn't fix and/or understand the 5155 psu, primarily because a schematic and manual and circuit description was never published for it, leaving people helpless and in the dark, without being able to complete a proper diagnostic and repair process. So it all went hit & miss.

So very sadly, a lot of these original 5155 PSU's got thrown away when they failed and more modern ones inserted in their place as a "quick fix", spoiling the originality of the 5155 computer. This is what inspired me to create the service manual for the 5155 psu, so the remaining ones could be saved and kept going indefinitely. I only go to this much effort making a manual for some machine, if I think it is worth it.

If you ever need to repair the 5155 psu, this is the document that will help you do it:

 
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