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my new IBM PS/2 Model 80...

Dave Farquhar said:
No kidding. I remember lugging around PS/2 Model 80s at my first real computer job. I'm sure they've gotten heavier in my memory as time has gone by, but I remember some of them weighing more than 50 pounds.

I got into a situation in 1997 or so where it looked like I might have had to ship one. Long story, but the short version was the IT staff decommissioned a Model 80 that had been a server, but neglected to go back and pick it up. So someone turned it back on and continued to use it. Months (maybe even a couple of years) later, my phone rang. They couldn't access "the K drive." I didn't have that drive on my cheatsheet of what servers hosted what shares. I asked around, and my coworkers said, "We decommissioned that ages ago." The drive had crashed, but a user with a lot of political clout had data on it, so we were ordered to ship the thing to Ontrack. Yes, they could handle an EDSI drive. Yes, they could handle OS/2 and HPFS386 even. But Microchannel? They said they needed us to send the controller, and might need us to send them a machine. Fortunately they were able to track down a Microchannel machine to put the controller in, so we didn't have to ship a Model 80 monstrosity halfway across the country.

I think we ended up paying upwards of $1,000 to recover 300 megs of data. Ouch. But to their credit, they got every bit of it.
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yeah Ontrack supposedly does great recovery work. you're right though, most of these are over 50 pounds once you have a second hard drive and a CD drive thrown in. just the thought of moving it from the back seat of my car around the yard to the basement ellicits a groan from me.
 
It's been a long time so I don't remember the specifics of the trick anymore, but we loaded all of our reference files (or at least the most common ones) onto the main reference disk to make configuring our PS/2s a lot easier.

The reference disks weren't quite ideal, but I liked them a lot better than fiddling with jumpers. MCA is definitely jarring, especially when you're used to something else, but for its time it was excellent.
 
EISA was like MCA except when it needed a driver it told you the filename (makes it easier to find files there days online), MCA just asks for a disk.
 
Unknown_K said:
EISA was like MCA except when it needed a driver it told you the filename (makes it easier to find files there days online), MCA just asks for a disk.
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But there is a few ways (like dropping to BASIC ROM) to determine the card´s ADF (Adapter Description File). And MCA adapters tend to be very well documented enough to identify. I´ve heard of lost ADFs (there are a few cases) being the worst case rather than not being able to figure out the adapter.
 
I could rhapsodise about the 80. I was in love with it. It was my first 386DX and allowed me to really get on the internet. It was the Queen of MCAs, WITH VGA, a beast but a wonderful one. IIRC there was a sticker on it warning about the weight which was well over 50 lbs. perhaps 75 or 80. It began my infatuation with IBM and MCA. As a result I've collected most of the models. Even the pull-out support wings enchanted me as well as it's easy access to it's innards using a dime.

Your not likely to find an ESDI HDD over 400megs so you'll need an MCA SCSI card, and I don't know if there are any size limitations on that. Even the NEXT had a problem with drives over 2 gigs. And of course there's the scarcity of MCA Sound cards. But even so you got a good deal and the 80 will likely become the vintage PC price-wise of the next decade. MCA can be frustrating at times but it is solidly dependable. I'm not that fond of the 8514/A. I think IBM made a mistake when they ran with that. The Mach 64 MCA cards I feel were superior.

IBM screwed MCA with their decision to hammer the PC clone-makers with ridiculous licensing fees. I still feel MCA was superior to EISA tho. The 80 was also a much better manufacture than the PC, XT, or AT even when you discount the new developments of the time. IIRC Texas Instruments made a good 486 upgrade for it called Evergreen.

Total quality as compared to most modern computers. Enjoy it.

Lawrence
 
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What a sweet find. I got a 8595 from Maniak years ago which still runs quite well (Win 98se). I would suggest finding a scsi controller. I'm not exactly sure which one my machine has but it works fine with 9 gig drives. In fact, I'm using Seagate barracuda ST19171WC drives with 80 to 50 pin adapters without problems. I have read that some controllers have issues with drives over 2 gigs so be careful. Only thing I wish I had was a better video card and a sound card. :)
 
MokeyDwarf said:
...I would suggest finding a scsi controller. I'm not exactly sure which one my machine has but it works fine with 9 gig drives. In fact, I'm using Seagate barracuda ST19171WC drives with 80 to 50 pin adapters without problems. I have read that some controllers have issues with drives over 2 gigs so be careful...
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ROM images can be found to make the "Spock" controllers have the later features (http://ibmmuseum.com/ohlandl/IBM_SCSI/SCSI-C.html#NewBIOS) if you don't have them already. As important is a optimized driver that has been rewritten for a Spock under Win NT/9x: http://www.members.aon.at/mcabase/spock206.htm. The PS/2 community is still at work to improve the systems.
 
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