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Questions about the 5160

DragonCustoms

Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
11
Location
Akron, PA.
Hey all, I recently aquired a 5160, and am completely baffled. I'm not used to hardware this old, and I'm having a horrible time trying to find info on it. Problem is that I don't have a clue what the cards are inside this machine. Can anyone here take a look and tell me what they are? It's a 1st gen XT mobo (and it's brown). Pics are here
-->http://www.putfile.com/dragonmaster9/images/84917<--
 
Also, I don't have a monitor. Could I use something else (besides an original) as the display? What would I need to accomplish this? Thanks to everyone.
 
So you have something like this inside (from left):

- AST board with COM, LPT, propably Real Time Clock;
- Monochrome video card;
- Memory card;
- Hard disk controller;
- Floppy drive controller;
- Another COM port controller;

360 kB floppy and 20-40 MB hard drive.

That's only my speculation, it's hard to tell from these pics.

You have to look for monochrome TTL monitor, with 9 D-SUB connector.
Usualy MDA cards had parallel port, but there were some CGA cards with it too.
If you can, make photos of each card.
 
Slot 8 is nearest to the power supply. Usually the Async card would go in here. Slot 8 is a 'special' slot, and only designed for certain cards.

8-Empty
7-IBM Async card (serial)
6-IBM Floppy controller
5-Empty
4-HDD controller
3-IBM Memory expansion (looks like the "official" IBM 256kB)
2-IBM Black and White Parallel card
1-AST card with serial, parallel, memory expansion and (probably) RTC. Memory expansion on this looks to be 128kB.

It looks like you have the 256kB mainboard, and two memory expansion. I would guess another 256kB on the IBM expansion card and another 128kB on the AST card. That's a total of 640kB.

You will need a monochrome monitor, an IBM 5151 would be the standard IBM one. If you wanted to use a different type of monitor, then you would need to find the appropiate 8-bit card. You could probably find an 8-bit VGA card on eBay that would allow you to use a modern monitor...

There is an IBM 5151 on eBay right now: http://search.ebay.co.uk/320083230665 :)

The hard drive and controller card don't look original. Probably was upgraded (run chkdsk at C> to see the size). XT's were available with either a 10 or 20MB drive.
 
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Thanks for the quick response! Would it be a bad idea to remove these cards for picture taking purposes? The computer looks to be in very good condition. I also powered it up. The HD sounded fine and appeared to access ok. The floppy checked for a disk, it beeped some, then sat waiting at the C prompt. (I assume, I can't see anything yet) I do have the keyboard and the IBM 5152 printer. No cables though. I guess my mission for a monitor begins.:lookroun:I guess I didn't have to look around very far, huh. Thanks!
 
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All abmer and green monitors form '80s and early '90s should work, they were commonly used with 8086s, 80286s and sometimes 80386s.

And as Dongfens said, you can use VGA card, try some 16 bit ones, they might work in 8bit slot.
 
If it beeps, then all should be good! Fingers crossed that the hard drive is okay. All you need now is a suitable monitor :)
 
Hey all, I recently aquired a 5160, and am completely baffled. I'm not used to hardware this old, and I'm having a horrible time trying to find info on it. Problem is that I don't have a clue what the cards are inside this machine. Can anyone here take a look and tell me what they are? It's a 1st gen XT mobo (and it's brown). Pics are here
-->http://www.putfile.com/dragonmaster9/images/84917<--

OMG, that was my first "real" computer.. that machine is what got me hooked in to this stuff.. only mine has 2 360K floppies and no hard drive. Wow! I think mine might still be in the attic at my moms house, I even had that green monitor of doom, I may still have it.. I'll take a look next time I'm over there.

-JDT
 
They aren't IBM propably but will work. As far as I know IBM made only full-lenght CGA cards.
 
DOH! I have one of those at Joe's place that I have been meaning to get up and running. Mine has some unusual hardware, a little box that hangs off it with a bunch of serial ports (looks like). I'll get some pics up next time I get a chance. I haven't opened it up at all so can't say much about it. Big mofo, tho.
 
That sounds like the rear expansion box from a QuadBoard card. As well as memory expansion and an RTC it provides a serial port on the card, and parallel and game ports on the expansion box that fits to the rear of the case. I have one of these, but with a Monochrome/Hercules card (with the socket at the top of the card) you can't plug in the monitor as the expansion gets in the way! So I fitted it without, and disabled those ports. Besides, game port is unncessary, and I already have parallel. Serial is useful, though!

ef27_1.JPG
 
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