First post, by raymangold
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Having to get my mind off some things, I decided to pull out this tiny computer and do some analysis.
The IBM PS/2E was released in 1993. It is commonly referred to the pizzabox, as was its codename.
A few unique features of this machine:
- it was the first certified "green" computer made with recycled plastics, and low power specifications. The 'green' aspect is attempted to be portrayed with the green emerald striping on the chassis.
- zero fans, including a passively cooled 24 watt (!) PSU
- 486SLC2 @ 50 Mhz
- The rubber feet at the bottom could be peeled off to have the unit wall mounted
The SLC2 was actually a 386 processor with more L1 cache (16K), and a whole bunch of other modifications that IBM did with the original design. Typically they outperform the majority of 486es that *have* L2 cache. If an SLC2 has L2 cache they run very well.
Mine was made on December 5th in 1993. The original CR2032 was leaking but was cleaned up without any damage. These were most commonly preconfigured with an ISA PCMCIA adapter to take PCMCIA cards from the front flap that pops down. Mine had the said PCMCIA adapter, but all of the surface mount capacitors were leaking from the bungs and it was just a mess. Not to mention I have no use for it and opted to put an ISA soundcard in the system instead as there is no onboard audio.
Placing an ISA card in these computers that uses excessive power will destabilize the tiny minebea PSU.
Pushing the front white tab up and sliding the shell off reveals the main guts inside the PS/2E. Curiously enough it still has a full-sized speaker even though systems like the PS/2 Model 30 used a pizo buzzer.
Removing the rail (which the PSU and HDD reside on), we can see the mainboard. Here the SLC2 microprocessor is situated, along with the VLSI bus chip, and the PSU connectors—which that type of molex connector is shared on AS/400s as well:
Going down the board we can see the SIMMs, along with the XGA-2 onboard section (ISA implementation of XGA-2), and the PCI-esque slot that is actually for the ISA riser…
Here is the removed riser with the ISA card still stuck in. Removing the ISA card instead of taking out the whole thing could break it from the force:
The IDE connector is rather strange, and came out of the factory like that (including the lone cut wire just left like that):
I can’t remember how much RAM is in it, but I can always boost it to 16MB if it isn’t. 486SLCs can’t address beyond 16MB. Not sure what my plans are for this computer, but it’ll be good for quiet computing when I don’t feel like listening to a bunch of fans.
On a final note, these are not as rare as people make them out to be.