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The Ultimate IBM 5150

I would like to ask whether my choices for cards to put into the Expansion Chassis as opposed to the Main System good ones? Unfortunately, with five slots I could not include all the RAM in the Main System. The Floppy Card has to be in the Main System because thats where the drives are. I put as much RAM as I could in the Main System to avoid any latency that may result from writing to RAM through the Expansion cards.

I had to put the CGA card in the Main System because it is the only card that uses the OSC signal. Unlike every other signal, which comes from the Expansion Cards, the Expansion Chassis generates its own OSC signal that "may not be in sync" with the OSC signal on the Main System.
 
That's the beauty of OSC ... it doesn't need to by in sync with the main system, and no card that uses it would expect it to be.
 
Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that most cards are OKed by IBM to work in the expansion unit. The bad news is that memory expansions and the MDA card must be in the main system according to Big Blue. That means:

1 - Diskette
2 - MDA
3 - 256K
4 - 256K
5 - Extender

1 - Fixed Disk
2 - CGA
3 - Async
4 - Async
5 - Printer
6 - Game
7 - ?
8 - Receiver

I assume the reason why IBM did not endorse using the MDA or memory in the expansion unit is because the Expansion Unit inserts an extra wait state that is not present on memory transfers on the main system. Anyone care to provide further insight?
 
I have an external 1.44MB/720K drive hooked to my parallel port, and the drive has a connection on the back so you can hook up your printer. It allows the printer to still be LPT1, LPT2, or whatever the adapter is, and works when the drive is off. I assume this to be a fairly common feature among most external drives(the feature being the extra port and addressing).

--Ryan
 
As I've mentioned before I have an Intel "Inboard 386" in my IBM PC. It's a chip that piggybacks onto the 8086 processor and among other things allows you to use a VGA monitor. There was also a "daughter" card for this chip (extensively documented with pictures by a poster from Germany in a post here a few years ago) which allowed memory expansion and other things. If one used some of the multifunction cards the 5 slots needn't be a great problem. It was generally meant for the XT and there is also a 286 version, but I have encountered no problems using it with my 5150 PC. Authenticity isn't that important to me, functionality up to a machines capability is.

As an aside, the plasma monitors like on the Compact 286 portable or the Grid laptops are the most pleasing monochrome monitors to me. The Amber or the green don't compare.

Lawrence
 
I have succeeded in building this system; here is a photo of it running windows 1.03!

U_IBM.jpg
 
Wow, that's awesome, and nice touch with the rose :)
Great documentation collection too ! Can you post
a list of titles or even better a closeup of those manuals
on the shelf above ? I'm always curious what all those
different color binders contain :)
 
I still need to get photos posted of mine...

This is what I put inside... using original IBM components wherever possible :)

IBM PC 5150 (built in 1984)

1. 256kB Memory Expansion
2. Colour Graphics Adapter
3. Black & White / Parallel Adapter
4. Extender card
5. Floppy controller

8087 Maths Co-Processor
Two full-height IBM 360kB floppy drives


IBM PC Expansion Chassis 5161

1. Async Card
2. Network card
3. Empty
4. Empty
5. Empty
6. 10/20MB Fixed Disk Adapter
7. Empty
8. Receiver card

20MB Western Digital WD25 Fixed Disk


Other Hardware

IBM 5151 Monochrome Display
IBM 5153 Colour Display
IBM ProPrinter X24e
First Generation (green button) Microsoft Serial Mouse


Software

IBM PC-DOS 3.2
Microsoft Windows 1.04


Wishlist

IBM Game Controller Adapter
IBM 5152 Graphics Printer
Second 20MB Western Digital WD25 Fixed Disk
External 720kB floppy drive
Second Async Card

I wonder what the cost would have been back in 1984?

5150and5161.jpg
 
Thing is, I don't have all my books in one place! I generally collect the books that go with the systems I have...

IBM 5150 Guide to Operations (64-256 motherboard)

IBM XT Guide to Operations (early XT)
IBM XT Technical Reference (early XT)
IBM XT Guide to Operations (late XT)

IBM AT Guide to Operations (early 6MHz AT)
IBM AT Setup and Installation (late 8MHz AT)

IBM XT/286 Guide to Operations

IBM Portable PC Guide to Operations

IBM PC-DOS 1.10
IBM PC-DOS 2.00
IBM PC-DOS 2.10
IBM PC-DOS 3.10
IBM PC-DOS 3.20
IBM PC-DOS 3.30

IBM BASIC (first revision)
IBM BASIC (second revision)
IBM BASIC (third revision)

IBM WisePak (missing disks)
IBM DisplayWrite 1.00

I think that is all for now... :D
 
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hey i have a second async card its a little rusty but its an original if you want it and can tell me how to test it lol. found it in a rusted out 486 looks like it would still work but i cant figure out how to use the card in my 5160 much less this one. :p
 
Note that the BIOS and Diagnostics diskette are expecting async cards fitted with particular UART chips:

5150 and 5160 ==> a 8250 or 8250B UART is expected (not 8250A)
5170 =========> a 16450 UART is expected
 
modem7 said:
Note that the BIOS and Diagnostics diskette are expecting async cards fitted with particular UART chips:

5150 and 5160 ==> a 8250 or 8250B UART is expected (not 8250A)
5170 =========> a 16450 UART is expected
Click to expand...

ok thanks just checked and I should be fine can just make out on the UART INS8250N-b. have to make a wrap cable though apparently.
 
Dongfeng-- What is that suspicious silver lever behind the IBMs? It is visible at the lower left of the desk. Looks like something you might pull to drop someone into a tank of vicious sharks when they bother you.

--Jack
 
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