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Thinkpads - 755C and 755CD

Ole Juul

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I just acquired two laptops and would like some ideas and information.

Thinkpad Type 9545-L9E 755C
Thinkpad Type 9545-9NE 755CD

As far as I can tell they are both 486s. They both have a floppy drive, although the "CD" can take a CD in place of the FDD. After some hours on the net, I can't get specific information on these. L9E and 9NE are just not models that are quoted where Google is pointing me.

They are both running OS/2 Warp and boot up fine when I take out the batteries. Each also comes with a Token Ring pc card (anybody want those?) and are set up to run the IBM carrot server, but I don't know OS/2 so don't know about the usefulness of that.

I'll boot them up again tomorrow and check the RAM and load some diagnostic and report back. Perhaps I should keep the OS/2 on there - or does anybody have any other more NIX oriented ideas for 486 laptops?

One thing that puzzles me is the two push tabs for the left and right "mouse" buttons on the 755CD. Does anybody know why they pull out and what that does?
 
Thanks UK. I guess I missed that link and it's a pretty complete manual too. I'd still like a list of models like L9E and 9NE if possible, and there's no information on why the tabs slide out other than to clearly label them as "click buttons".
 
Thanks UK. I guess I missed that link and it's a pretty complete manual too. I'd still like a list of models like L9E and 9NE if possible, and there's no information on why the tabs slide out other than to clearly label them as "click buttons".
Lots of sub models listed here but alas, I didn't see the exact ones you're looking for:
http://www.lenovo.com/psref/psrefs_withdrawn.html
 
u don't want the 755cd? i've got oddles of parts i may just liberate if i took that off ur hands

the 755cd was my first laptop so lots of memories
 
u don't want the 755cd? i've got oddles of parts i may just liberate if i took that off ur hands

the 755cd was my first laptop so lots of memories

I was planning to keep both of them. Although I must say that to me the 755c is the better laptop since it has less features than the 755cd. If I change my mind I'll definitely keep you in mind though. :)

So, do you know why the click buttons slide out?
 
I was planning to keep both of them. Although I must say that to me the 755c is the better laptop since it has less features than the 755cd. If I change my mind I'll definitely keep you in mind though. :)

So, do you know why the click buttons slide out?

I can answer the question on those as the 755CD was one of my laptops many eons ago....

The buttons slide out as sort of a "click lock" for the right and left click. It was rare feature offered on some early 90's pointing devices, probably to make it easier for some people to drag-and-drop objects when in Windows/OS2

More stuff about the 755CD, as I had one...
- The CD-ROM and Floppy Drive are hot swappable, it said so in the manual
- There are Lithium ION batteries available for the 755CD, they offer about 1.5-2 Hours of battery life.
- The 755CD can either be a 486 DX4 or a Pentium 75 based machine or so I've read
- There's a RAM expansion slot under the CD-ROM/Floppy tray under the keyboard, sort of like PCMCIA, I think it maxes out around 96MB if I remember right
- It uses a 32-bit MCA (but 16-bit compatible) iteration of PCMCIA for expansion cards
- The keyboard is rather cool, the locks for it have 2 notches, one notch forward allows the screen to come up, 2 forward allows the keyboard to lift up like a car hood and allows access to the drives and battery.
 
The buttons slide out as sort of a "click lock" for the right and left click. It was rare feature offered on some early 90's pointing devices, probably to make it easier for some people to drag-and-drop objects when in Windows/OS2

More stuff about the 755CD, as I had one...
. . .
- The keyboard is rather cool, the locks for it have 2 notches, one notch forward allows the screen to come up, 2 forward allows the keyboard to lift up like a car hood and allows access to the drives and battery.

Thanks for that click lock info. Funny I couldn't find anything about that in the manual or related literature on the net.

Yes, the form factor is very cool. Just lifting up the keyboard and being able to change HDD to a different OS or whatever is very functional. The machine can be completely reconfigured without touching a screw. It makes you wonder why other designers wouldn't want to sell similarly practical machines as well.

Both my t-pads are 486s so I'm not sure if they have much practical value, but it is fun to look at OS/2 since I've never really tried that before. I'm wondering if it would be easy to change the configuration from token ring to ethernet so I could connect these to something and try the Netscape browser which is already there.

PS: I now have three token ring PCMCIA cards if someone can use them.
 

Thanks, that a very good idea. I actually read that thread with interest and downloaded the basic disks. (Just because I'm a hoarder.) What's the most functional *nix from the 486 period?

Off topic, but I'll put it here: The title of that thread should have been "Mark Williams' Coherent" since his name is Williams and not William. Oh well, at least the error forced me to go look it up and learn something. :)
 
Most functional *nix in the 486 era? Hell I don't know. I was floundering around in dos/win3x and Geoworks being totally unproductive ;). Changing the networking from token ring to ethernet in OS/2 wont be that hard with the right kit. The "Connect" version of Warp (assuming it's v3) is simpler to set up in that regard though. There's still plenty of HowTos out in wwwland to walk you through it. Any idea of the fixpack level?

Nice wee score btw.
 
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Most functional *nix? Hell I don't know. I was floundering around in dos/win3x and Geoworks being totally unproductive ;). Changing the networking from token ring to ethernet in OS/2 wont be that hard with the right kit. There's still plenty of HowTos out in wwwland to walk you through it. The "Connect" version of Warp (assuming it's v3) is simpler to set up in that regard though. Any idea of the fixpack level?

Nice wee score btw.

I shouldn't have used the word "functional" as what I really meant is which one is easiest for my particular brand of dysfunction. :) I guess nobody can answer that. lol

Yes, on the 755CD it's version 3 and there's 40MB ram. I guess I should stick an ethernet card in it and ask Mr. Google for directions. I've never tried OS/2 before.
 
memhq.jpg
 
The 755CD already has 40MB. I didn't check the numbers but there are two modules on a board that plugs into the socket.

What I need is a 16 bit PCMCIA ethernet card. I've got a D-Link DFE690 that I bought some years ago, but that's 32bit and D-Link is pretty sub-standard as far as drivers are concerned and it's just a nuisance card all around.

I just looked on E-bay and there's nothing there except ones that require a separate purchase of an adaptor which then ends up making them double the price. Does anybody have any suggestions for best model with a chipset that has drivers for DOS/OS2/*nix?
 
The 755CD already has 40MB. I didn't check the numbers but there are two modules on a board that plugs into the socket.

What I need is a 16 bit PCMCIA ethernet card. I've got a D-Link DFE690 that I bought some years ago, but that's 32bit and D-Link is pretty sub-standard as far as drivers are concerned and it's just a nuisance card all around.

I just looked on E-bay and there's nothing there except ones that require a separate purchase of an adaptor which then ends up making them double the price. Does anybody have any suggestions for best model with a chipset that has drivers for DOS/OS2/*nix?
Any of these any use:
3Com 3CCFE575BT
3Com 3CCFE575CT
GVC 10Mbps Ethernet Adapter; no model#, FCC ID MQ4EC2T
IBM Ethernet II p/n 42h4916

Have some spare dongles as well.
 
Hawking Tech PN652 (10/100) PCMCIA cards are pretty good (no dongle needed since there is a socket built in to the card) and it works with WFW, OS/2, Win9x, DOS Netware, NT etc.
 
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