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RISC Thinkpad wanted

NeXT

NeXT

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Joined
Oct 22, 2008
Messages
8,178
Location
Kamloops, BC, Canada
I'm currently in the mood to look for something particularly awesome, either an IBM Thinkpad 850 or 860 Power series notebook.
0921_ibm_30s.jpg

Essentially it's an RS/6000 in laptop form and running AIX. An awesome optional feature is a small camera.
These don't surface too often but if you got one you don't need I'm willing to take it off your hands for a negotiable sum of money.
 
I have an 820 in not-the-greatest condition. (No battery at all, no floppy drive, dead optical drive.) Sadly, you'd probably need to offer way more than it's reasonably worth for me to be willing to part with it. (It's my prized system.)

Right now it's running Windows NT 4.0; I can't get OS/2 for PowerPC to load on it; and haven't the foggiest where to legally get a copy of AIX for it.
 
That seems to be the common answer for people who have one.
No matter what condition the things are in (and if they passed through ebay they usually ended up without caddies, batteries, drives and cables, just like SPARC Tadpoles), they won't part with it and somewhere in their will, probably have instructions for it to be buried with them.
 
I actually have a new-in-box Thinkpad 850 (which, of course, I simply cannot part with). I also have the original copies of AIX for the Thinkpad 850. If anyone can dig up any info on whether or not it is legal to make and distribute copies of these I would be willing to distribute.
 
The documentation you can probably show if you want to scan in the whole book but the software is obviously a no-go unless IBM is okay with letting something other than AIX 1.3 be available online.

In related news, you have a new PM.
 
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Um.. yes. I'd like one too please. ;-) I've looked around for them at various points but rarely ever come across anything. It's kinda like searching for an IBM 5100, I end up with a bunch of stupid server results or newer models that have a similar number. I'm surprised you've found enough to see several with similar components missing. Seems like maybe if you find one for the right price it might be worth grabbing and seeking the components after? Although admittedly with rarer and portable systems finding components can lead you to complete auctions only which isn't worth it.
 
Hi,

I have come across an RS/6000 860 and I have no use for it. It boots up and comes to the AIX log on screen, but the battery is dead....Any interest out there?

Type is 7249-LUX


NeXT said:
I'm currently in the mood to look for something particularly awesome, either an IBM Thinkpad 850 or 860 Power series notebook.
0921_ibm_30s.jpg

Essentially it's an RS/6000 in laptop form and running AIX. An awesome optional feature is a small camera.
These don't surface too often but if you got one you don't need I'm willing to take it off your hands for a negotiable sum of money.
Click to expand...
 
Oh man, I totally forgot about this thread.

I personally have an 850 now so I'm not really interested in an 860 but that means anyone else can call dibs on it.
 
Dunk14 said:
Hi,

I have come across an RS/6000 860 and I have no use for it. It boots up and comes to the AIX log on screen, but the battery is dead....Any interest out there?

Type is 7249-LUX
Click to expand...

That depends where it is located. If there is an ocean between the 860 and me, shipping costs might be too much.
 
Thinkpad 850

Thinkpad 850

NeXT said:
I'm currently in the mood to look for something particularly awesome, either an IBM Thinkpad 850 or 860 Power series notebook.
0921_ibm_30s.jpg

Essentially it's an RS/6000 in laptop form and running AIX. An awesome optional feature is a small camera.
These don't surface too often but if you got one you don't need I'm willing to take it off your hands for a negotiable sum of money.
Click to expand...

If you still want a Thinkpad 850 contact me . I have an 850 in working condition minus the battery but with most of the equipment that came with it when it was new including the user manual (first edition)

Mike Senior
 
Hi, I am moving to UK in January of 2015. I have interest regarding the Thinkpad 850 or 860. Please let me know.
Thanks!
 
Mike Senior said:
If you still want a Thinkpad 850 contact me . I have an 850 in working condition minus the battery but with most of the equipment that came with it when it was new including the user manual (first edition)

Mike Senior
Click to expand...

Mike Senior - If you are still thinking of selling your Thinkpad 850, let me know.
 
Juror22 said:
Mike Senior - If you are still thinking of selling your Thinkpad 850, let me know.
Click to expand...

Pardon my ignorance, but what's so prized about these RS/6000 Thinkpads?

I've seen a couple on eBay at the moment, (one of which is selling for a fairly high price) - is it simply the obscurity / novelty of having a portable RS/6000 machine?

I've also seen SPARCBooks fetch extremely high prices. Yet a lot of non-portable server gear which does the same job goes for virtually nothing.

I'm not slating the idea of paying a lot for one, I never worked in servers or networks and am just trying to understand the origin of the appeal?
 
A reasonable question - I have worked a lot with both RS/6000 and AIX, and it's not particularly interesting. Slow, single-threaded, batch-like performance (one task gets all the CPU for a long time before there's a context switch) - my ten-year old (or is it 12?) Intel laptop could vastly outperform a much newer RS/6000 AIX Pxxx system on just about everything. So nothing special, same as any *nix box, just slower.

So I guess the interest in that particular variant is the uniqueness - an RS/6000 AIX Thinkpad isn't something you see every day. In that sense it's collectible.
 
It is pretty much a collectible thing at this point unless you have a reason to be running a portable AIX machine however I know of no software packages for AIX. Was AutoCAD even available?
 
I think the point is a portable AIX/Sun system on those processors vs a 200lb midframe. That and yes they're a bit obscure unfortunately. I have a Sparcbook that was pretty cool until it blew it's backlight (can still see screen but not well, or you can still use it via serial just like a headless server).
 
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