The biggest problem with PS/2 systems is that they use the MCA expansion bus, which is not compatible with the ISA bus.
So you'd need specific MCA-versions of Sound Blasters or other sound cards. Sadly, these are rare and expensive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster#S … r_MCV.2C_CT5320

Drivers for early sound cards are generally not required. You configure the SB or compatible card with jumpers to specific base address, IRQ and DMA (normally 220h, 7 and 1 respectively), and then optionally add a SET BLASTER=... environment variable to your autoexec.bat.
I believe the MCA-version doesn't even need jumpers for that, because MCA features some early form of auto-config.
That's basically it, as far as DOS goes.
Most games/demos will auto-detect the card anyway, or have some kind of SETUP.EXE or INSTALL.EXE included to configure the software for your sound device.

What Scali said. MCA sound cards in general are very uncommon, and expect to pay a good amount of $$$ if you want one. I found a list of some of the more popular MCA sound cards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Channel_a … ure#Sound_cards

Scali wrote:

The biggest problem with PS/2 systems is that they use the MCA expansion bus, which is not compatible with the ISA bus.

Not all PS/2 systems are MCA though. The OPS certainly is. There are ISA XT bus and AT ISA bus models as well in the PS/2 line up.

Well fuck...

King_Corduroy wrote:

Well fuck...

A quick google search would given you all the info you need about MCA sound cards and also set up MCA kit.

From a techical view point they are interesting though.Would own one myself.

Doesn't change the fact that it sucks. 😒

Because you haven't bothered to do prior research before aquiring the machine?

Enjoy it for what it is, an OEM IBM MCA product with limited expandibility.Use a generic clone to do real stuff...

King_Corduroy wrote:

Well fuck...

I wouldn't be surprised if that was what people thought back then when they realised none of their prior expansion boards would work on those machines =/
I recall at least one member mentioning that the MCA Sound Blaster had somewhat bettter SnR than their ISA counterparts due to the better grounding of the bus... so if you ever come across one of those cards you might as well enjoy it.

Caluser2000 wrote:

Because you haven't bothered to do prior research before aquiring the machine?

Enjoy it for what it is, an OEM IBM MCA product with limited expandibility.Use a generic clone to do real stuff...

Hey dude, it was 15 bucks and was about to be scrapped so take it down a notch. Not everyone is glued at the hip to a cellphone and I'm sure as hell not "acquiring" computers off the internet so it was very much a buy it or don't thing and I sure as fuck wasn't going to leave it there. I have PLENTY of other computers to use for my general gaming needs I just thought it would be cool to put a real sound card in this computer also. I am naturally feeling a bit disappointed that I cannot do so, which I would think could be something most people could understand. Especially on this forum. It does not however mean I don't like the IBM PS/2 Model 50z system (systems actually I have two), this thing has a permanent home in my computer collection.

As mentioned earlier if you did a quick search http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/alf/ps2_50z/ You certainly would have found it wasn't ISA compatible. Looks like there's a possible upgrade path as well.

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The M-ACPA/A sound card used to be a somewhat easier to find and cheaper MCA card though I don't know about these days. Of course that card IS NOT Sound Blaster compatible so games sound really bizarre and off on it but I guess it may be better then nothing.

Buy this system, loot the MCA Soundblaster, sell the system... profit?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-IBM-PS-2-Persona … =item5b165f15ad

I would keep the whole thing intact though.

I think the fact that this is not your random PC clone, but IBM's attempt at a 'next-gen' PC makes it all the more interesting.
PS/2s also were meant to run OS/2 rather than DOS, and the whole system was quite a bit more advanced than the average DOS-based clones that were being sold back then. MCA can be seen as a precursor to PCI, already offering automatic configuration, and delivering more bandwidth than ISA (32-bit, 10 MHz, and none of the headaches that you got with early VLB).
And as we all know, PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports were adopted by clones later, and have only recently been replaced by USB.
If I hadn't had an Amiga back in the day, I might have actually called the PS/2 'ahead of its time', but heh.

I think a decent PS/2 system with a dualboot OS/2 and DOS installation and a good sound card (probably one of the Sound Blasters) would make for a very interesting 'best of both worlds' machine, capable of all the usual stuff that clones were, but also of some stuff that clones were NOT capable of.

any idea about this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Novell-9701648-738-00 … =item51d5a2ec27

soviet conscript wrote:

any idea about this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Novell-9701648-738-00 … =item51d5a2ec27

That's actually a LAN card.

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PeterLI wrote:

FYI: OS/2 will run fine on ISA / PCI / VLB systems (granted VGA / NIC et cetera have drivers for it).

Actually, OS/2 Warp didn't work on my Am486DX2-66.
When I swapped the CPU with a real Intel, it did work. Not sure what OS/2 does exactly, but it's the only piece of software that I ever encountered, that didn't work on the AMD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkk0YW_qd-Y
VWestlifes video on the IBM M-ACPA sound card, There's on from Pakistan for $87 and $38 shipping. Its half the price of other MCA sound cards
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rexon-Tecmar-IBM-M-AC … d-/221766870990