IBM L40 SX with a 5800 PSP-1

[kingfish3]

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me solve a problem?

I recently purchased a IBM L40 SX with a 5800 PSP-1 attached, both of the items are in great condition and work. I was lucky enough to find an 8mb stick of ram in the laptop. I was wondering if anybody has any information on the 5800 PSP docking station? Any help will be greatly appreciated!! I have seen several post from 2008 about the sale of a L40 with a 5800 psp, but not much hard data or photos. All of the ISA slots are filled and I have a parallel port below some sort of a small tape drive. If you need pictures, please let me know. Thanks and if I can provided you with any information about the L40 SX please let me know.

Thank you,

John Bailey

 

[RWallmow]

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me solve a problem?

I recently purchased a IBM L40 SX with a 5800 PSP-1 attached, both of the items are in great condition and work. I was lucky enough to find an 8mb stick of ram in the laptop. I was wondering if anybody has any information on the 5800 PSP docking station? Any help will be greatly appreciated!! I have seen several post from 2008 about the sale of a L40 with a 5800 psp, but not much hard data or photos. All of the ISA slots are filled and I have a parallel port below some sort of a small tape drive. If you need pictures, please let me know. Thanks and if I can provided you with any information about the L40 SX please let me know.

Thank you,

John Bailey

I helped a friend repair and upgrade a L40SX not to long ago, he didn't have the ISA expander however. What do you need to know? If all you want to know is "what is it worth", my answer is going to be "whatever someone is willing to pay for it".

What I can tell you spec wise its a 20mhz 386, it used a standard 2.5" PATA Hard drive (not sure on original size, was missing out of my friends, we installed a 20GB), 2MB RAM on board and the ram slots while 72-pin, are non-standard unique to only a few PCs, however there are some instructions on the net on modding standard 72-pin parity simms to fit and work on the L40SX.

 

[mbbrutman]

I need one ...

A docking station for an L40SX would be perfect, and I had forgotten that they existed. I would love to have a real Ethernet card on mine. (A Xircom PE3 is good for temporary usage, but given that my machine is not really portable anymore because of a poor battery the docking station would be great.)


Mike

 

[Maverick1978]

If you find a cheap source for the docking station, Mike - lmk Until now, I didn't even know that they existed... Although, tbh, my L40/SX sees very little use. Cool little machine, and a definite curiosity, but I can't take the screen for long periods of time

 

[mbbrutman]

If you find a cheap source for the docking station, Mike - lmk Until now, I didn't even know that they existed... Although, tbh, my L40/SX sees very little use. Cool little machine, and a definite curiosity, but I can't take the screen for long periods of time

Have you done the SSD upgrade to yours? (Well, ok, it's an SSD but not quite at the same speeds current ones run ...)

I like mine a lot, and yes the screen is difficult. But it's a neat little machine. At some point I'll rebuild the battery pack using 'C' cell NiCADs and make it portable again.


Mike

 

[kingfish3]

Thank you for the information. I am going to keep the 5800 docking platform. I was wondering if there was any software that came with the 5800 PSP. I am currently trying to mod some 4meg IBM modules, I will let you know if I am successful.

Thank you,

John Bailey

 

[kingfish3]

Thank you Mike for your reply. I apologize for the late reply my whole family has had the flu, but me. I upgraded my L40 to a 512meg SSD DOM using your tutorial it worked great. That was a great article, easy to follow instruction and well written. My L40 sx has 16 megs of ram and a math co-processor and the 5800-1 Portable Service Platform. I am using a color monitor it is easier on the eyes. I believe that the 5800 has a magnetic optical drive, but I am not sure. I have been able to detach the L40 from the 5800 PSP, but I cannot get inside the case without tearing up something. I will probably fix it until it's broken. (LOL) I will keep a look out for the items you are looking for.

Thank you,
John Bailey