NeXT
Veteran Member
I made a thread on this a bajillion years ago and it seems The Internet adopted my photos as the reference images for the 7552.
[slaps "As Seen on LGR" sticker here]
The fact that it seems nobody has gone and taken better photos beyond what I took on the carpeted floor of my first apartment is getting a little irritating so while I had my storage unit inverted I was able to reach into the time capsule and pull the box out as I had left it a decade ago.
So what is it? This is an IBM system that was intended to run at least PC-DOS for datalogging and handling of data for automation/control in rugged environments. It has a built in ten second "uninterruptible" power supply and intelligent fan and thermal monitoring. It is designed to be wallmounted or rackmounted depending on the hardware kit you are using. It can also be floor standing if you purchased the floor kit which raises it off the floor to allow for proper airflow.
While a keyboard port is present on the front (and the underside) a video card is not included and the machine under normal conditions does not expect you to run with either. This is great because that's not a standard keyboard DIN, the IBM keyboard is grey, mechanical and WHY OF COURSE THERE'S A BUNCH OF CLOWNS WANTING HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS FOR IT.
*ahem*
Anyways. The keyboard isn't the only thing about this rackmount PC that's special. Everything is.
My particular system came with the diagnostic software in 3.5 and 5,25" media, the IBM Communications SubSystem (it seems mainly a dedicated process development environment working down at the assembly level), an IBM 33F9735 magnetic card reader and an IBM 33F9701 barcode scanner, whose rubber strain relief has become a black goopy mess in the bag. There were no keys and seeing how I got a barcode scanner and card reader, a terminal of some sort this was probably attached to is also missing.
It's not just a PC/XT/AT in a fancy case like IBM's other desktop and rackmount industrial PC's. It feels an awful lot like a PS/2 model 60 that is now in modular form, not all of the MCA bus is on the backplane and everything is now weird in its own particular way from the chip package for the RAM to the IBM 3.5" hard drive being a more traditional 2-cable ST506 interface (I've personally only seen IBM's 3.5" drives in this style as ESDI/MCA HDB). It's not even entirely PC Compatible, according to the internet. While you can change the system configuration by adding a variety of modules (which are not hot swappable), some expected address points for items such as the keyboard have moved around and the backplane does not carry all of the standard lines for the ISA bus. Oh right, so It's also MCA and an ISA hybrid machine. The whole machine is kinda nutty and you can read all about this here - https://www.ardent-tool.com/7552/Architecture.html
[slaps "As Seen on LGR" sticker here]
The fact that it seems nobody has gone and taken better photos beyond what I took on the carpeted floor of my first apartment is getting a little irritating so while I had my storage unit inverted I was able to reach into the time capsule and pull the box out as I had left it a decade ago.
So what is it? This is an IBM system that was intended to run at least PC-DOS for datalogging and handling of data for automation/control in rugged environments. It has a built in ten second "uninterruptible" power supply and intelligent fan and thermal monitoring. It is designed to be wallmounted or rackmounted depending on the hardware kit you are using. It can also be floor standing if you purchased the floor kit which raises it off the floor to allow for proper airflow.
While a keyboard port is present on the front (and the underside) a video card is not included and the machine under normal conditions does not expect you to run with either. This is great because that's not a standard keyboard DIN, the IBM keyboard is grey, mechanical and WHY OF COURSE THERE'S A BUNCH OF CLOWNS WANTING HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS FOR IT.
*ahem*
Anyways. The keyboard isn't the only thing about this rackmount PC that's special. Everything is.
My particular system came with the diagnostic software in 3.5 and 5,25" media, the IBM Communications SubSystem (it seems mainly a dedicated process development environment working down at the assembly level), an IBM 33F9735 magnetic card reader and an IBM 33F9701 barcode scanner, whose rubber strain relief has become a black goopy mess in the bag. There were no keys and seeing how I got a barcode scanner and card reader, a terminal of some sort this was probably attached to is also missing.
It's not just a PC/XT/AT in a fancy case like IBM's other desktop and rackmount industrial PC's. It feels an awful lot like a PS/2 model 60 that is now in modular form, not all of the MCA bus is on the backplane and everything is now weird in its own particular way from the chip package for the RAM to the IBM 3.5" hard drive being a more traditional 2-cable ST506 interface (I've personally only seen IBM's 3.5" drives in this style as ESDI/MCA HDB). It's not even entirely PC Compatible, according to the internet. While you can change the system configuration by adding a variety of modules (which are not hot swappable), some expected address points for items such as the keyboard have moved around and the backplane does not carry all of the standard lines for the ISA bus. Oh right, so It's also MCA and an ISA hybrid machine. The whole machine is kinda nutty and you can read all about this here - https://www.ardent-tool.com/7552/Architecture.html
Your Guess?
