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Review: KY haul of PCs

Yzzerdd

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Thought I'd start a seperate thread to showcase what all I've gotten from the trip I made to KY(Kentucky). Decided it'd be neater to do that than to have a messy discussion on the previous thread I'd been using. Lets begin.

First off, here is a link to all the pictures I may have regarding the items I picked up from KY. Use them as a reference should you need to as I ramble. Link

Today I assembled a fully restored IBM PC AT. It looks great and performs perfectly. Actually, I shouldn't say FULLY restored. I need to hookup a backup battery. I have to run setup information every time I boot. Nevertheless, a cool system.

I scrubbed the dirt off the case, and gave it an IBM CGA card, instead of the MDA that was in it. I guess I need to add a printer card as well. I replaced the 1.2MB drive A: in it with one that would've been in a stock IBM AT, and cleaned the 360K drive B:.

The HDD had non-DOS partitions, who knows what O/S was on it...maybe Linux or something. Either way, thanks to a Microsoft Document, I was able to use debug to remove the partitions, then FDISK it into a DOS partition. Formatting as I added DOS 3.3 was also part of the procedure. No bad sectors or any bad spots whatsoever! Yayy!

I still need to clean the keyboard, though. I'll do that this weekend. Until then, enjoy the picture of my IBM PC AT. Oh, because I didn't use flash, the color is a little off on my cheap-ass camera. The drives and keyboard were selected carefully, and everything is actually the original colors. My drives are grey, not brown.

Pic

--Jack
 
Unforturnately no, I only got books and such for the Commodore lot of stuff. Although, I already have to BASIC 3.0(?) book(thanks to you, I think), the GTO, DOS 3.3, and the Setup and Installations guide. I have 3 or 4 GTOs actually, all with manuals.

I was dissappointed none of my systems had keys, either. That've been really cool. I did get alot of IBM-compatable software, though, which was a plus. Never mind the fact every ST-4038 I've tested works perfect. That alone was worth the trip.

--Jack
 
The C128 memory unit (boxed) is cool. I like the IBM machines as well.

I hope you have room for all that stuff.
 
The Suburban is half-way unloaded and I find myself scratching my head as to where I am going to put the rest. As it is I have to step over a 5151 and TRS-80 IV to get to my PC. I stumble over a Micron and an IBM PC AT to get in and out of bed. The closet(cellar)? I have to jump over XTs and ATs to get to it. I need to reorganize my piles and stack them even higher.

Yes, I got all sorts of C= stuff. Good thing, too, I'd been wanting to toy with a Commodore. I didn't think I'd end up with so much Commodore stuff and manuals, etc.

Using Microsofts guide to departioning a drive with DEBUG, I was able to departition the drive. I used DOS 3.3's FORMAT command to format the drive. Here is the guide from Microsoft, for those who may need it.

Terry, if you need a drive, we'll see. Depends on how many ATs I get to perfect order. I may have at least ONE extra drive, without the card. The card was rusted all to hell. Only one unit was rusted at all, strangly, and boy was it rusted.

Oh, BTW, what voltage battery does the AT use? The guy I got this stuff from was smart enough to remove all the batteries before putting the PCs in storage, and now I have to run setup on the ATs before booting. Good thing he removed them, but too bad he didn't keep them in a seperate box instead of throwing them away.

--Jack
 
The Suburban is half-way unloaded and I find myself scratching my head as to where I am going to put the rest. As it is I have to step over a 5151 and TRS-80 IV to get to my PC. I stumble over a Micron and an IBM PC AT to get in and out of bed. The closet(cellar)? I have to jump over XTs and ATs to get to it. I need to reorganize my piles and stack them even higher.

This may seem like blasphemy, but with such a large haul for pretty much the price of gas, I would recommend dividing the collection into two halves and selling one half. A nicely restored IBM PC/XT/AT goes for $50-$150 on ebay depending on condition; you could recoup your gas cost + save some space at the same time.
 
Thats pretty much the plan. My total costs for the trip were as follows:

$95 Worth gas(would've been half, but had to put the tank on full when we got here)

$10 Food

$40 For the stuff

So if I sell enough of this just to put myself at $145, I'll be even.

I intend on keeping the PS/2, one IBM AT, and one IBM XT. Commodore stuff, software, hard ware I intend to keep as well. I will build (restore) myself the most original systems I can with what I have, and sell the rest. I will be selling the extra color and mono displays, as well. I expect to get a couple hundred out of my odds and ends from this haul. I may just keep the TRS-80 IV, too.

BTW, Terry, I tested it last night. Garbage characters on the screen. I'll diagnose and repair later...much later.

--Jack
 
Good aquisition. An AT and a Model IV are on my hit list. As you infer though space becomes an issue with these larger machines.

I keep all my units in a room above my garage. I've got quite a bit of stuff up there all piled down one end of the room in boxes. Collectively it's quite a bit of weight up there now. The other day I was in the garage (ground floor) and it crossed my mind that perhaps the bulding was not constructed to hold all that weight in that small room up there. I'm sure the ground floor ceiling (upstairs room floor) has a slight bow in it :D

Tez
 
Good aquisition. An AT and a Model IV are on my hit list. As you infer though space becomes an issue with these larger machines.

I keep all my units in a room above my garage. I've got quite a bit of stuff up there all piled down one end of the room in boxes. Collectively it's quite a bit of weight up there now. The other day I was in the garage (ground floor) and it crossed my mind that perhaps the bulding was not constructed to hold all that weight in that small room up there. I'm sure the ground floor ceiling (upstairs room floor) has a slight bow in it :D

Tez

It might someday come to the point where you'll hafta move it all to the ground floor and park the car upstairs.

--T
 
It might someday come to the point where you'll hafta move it all to the ground floor and park the car upstairs.

--T

Terry I have 4 kids, ages from 31 to 19, all now left home. However, their gear mostly hasn't! You think I have room for a car in my garage?! :)
 
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I've been working and working, getting two particular machines in top condition. An IBM PC AT and a PS/2 70-386. I ordered a battery online for the PS/2, which came in promptly and set me back $1.99+$3 or so shipping. As for the AT, I may just rig som'thin up.

Anyhow, after much cleaning I got the two machines looking good. Actually, I haven't gotten around to cleaning the PS/2. It looks acceptable already. Assorted upgrading, and general tomfoolery is all I've been doing today, upping the AT to DOS 5.0, and TRYING to get Space Simulator to work. No, I didn't open the original disk packet. After jumping hoops, I got the disk images online. Anyhow, turns out, as I read in the manual, I need 2MB available to install. So, if I want it on the 386, I need to get some more memory in there...or get that memory card working.

Here, have a picture! Oh, and I rearranged pile #2, the KY pile. Now I have more room to unload more stuff, to make pile #3. Still working on pile #1, which I wont picture.

IBM PC AT--That metal piece on the unit is an expansion cover--I added a modem
The pile, revamped--I've got about half foot space between stuff and the oven. Heat wont be an issue.
IBM PS/2--now with battery

--Jack
 
FYI - The unknown memory card in your picture is made for either a Zenith 286 or 386. I'm not sure how compatible it is with other AT class machines. I opened up my Z-248 machine and the part # on the memory board was not the same as the one you have. When I get a chance I'll open up my Z-386/25and see what memory board it has. Zenith made 16, 20 and 25 Mhz 386machines and each one may have used different boards in them.
 
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