First post, by ifkz
I was given my first IBM machine: a PS/1 model 2155 not long ago that was stripped down to nearly nothing.
I am nearly ready for first power up and I am waiting for and have ordered a CPU for it, a 486-DX 50Mhz since that was missing too. This uses a, I guess you call it a....push-the-CPU-in-socket, a first for me to attempt. Sadly, no ziff socket.
To start with, the plastic bezel on the front of the machine came to me in five separate (and sharp!) shattered pieces. The door on the front was also ripped out and broken at the latch points. I took all of the broken pieces of plastic and hot glued everything back together to a functional state. The door was never going to work again so I left in in an open position secured with hot glue from the rear. It is a lot better than when I started and the hot glue can be easily cleaned up if I choose to re-do things in the future. The cracks are there but Humpty Dumpty is back together .
This needed everything left in my parts box from this era, the missing pieces I have added:
A Pentium 4 era power supply
An ATX to AT power supply adapter
2 sticks of 72pin matching RAM
An IDE CD-ROM drive from a Compaq from the year 2000 or so
Era matching floppy and IDE cables
A 850MB hard drive from Western Digital
A new 2032 clock battery...very glad this did not have a....VARTA Destroyer of Worlds....battery
A Diamond Speedstar ISA video card. The onboard video uses a connector that would otherwise require me to hack up a VGA cable, a little odd.
This came with two IDE controller cards, loose. I find this strange since it has onboard IDE and floppy connections. I am attempting to use the onboard...the floppy connector was a bit wrecked but I have sorted out the physical damage.
I found none of my standard PC screws fit this IBM, that was tough since it was missing all of them except one. It was also missing all of the blanking plates in the rear.
Any PS/1 or vintage IBM fans out there? This seems to be one of the very last PS/1 model machines before the switch to the Aptiva line. I think it would be a great DOS performer.
For sound I am going to run a wavetable Prometheus ARIA16 Sound Card. I have never used one of these, generally sticking to Soundblasters, but I look forward to seeing if it works and seeing some of the Windows 3.1 features and DOS compatibility. The first thing I am going to do assuming this works is install Doom. Next would be SimCity 2000 to see how the Aria support sounds versus the soundblaster sound I have always heard. Even if it does not boot, it was a fun build and a good place for the parts (and IBM's service documentation could be a great help). I jumped at the chance to get another computer from the era (late 1993) of my very first PC. I am pretty excited!!!