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IBM PS/2 80 Series motherboard

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Reply 20 of 35, by pentiumspeed

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Standard floppy drive but issue is knowing how to make a modified floppy cable out of standard floppy cable and resistors, split out the cable to supply the power. Too much technical skill and error is high, risky. Option is join the facebook PS/2 group and ask there to have this adapter made and shipped for a price.

Or have the floppy drive shipped to someone who knows how to fix these.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 23 of 35, by luckybob

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he also makes soundcards for MCA. I wouldn't call them cheap, but compared to originals, they are a steal at twice the price.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 24 of 35, by Niezgodka

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Oh nice. If I will make it working the right way, I will probably get one of these sound cards 😀
Here is a picture of my motherboard:
IMG-0228q.jpg
I noticed, that my floppy connector is with pins, but that FDD adapter is a slide card like. Do I put it into MCA port? Which side up?

Like I said, I replaced the battery, disconnect hdd and fdd, and I still have same codes, however now computer is getting into some IBM Basic

IMG-0235.jpg

Don't know much about it. I tried to set the date, but it does not take dos commands 🙁

Reply 25 of 35, by BitWrangler

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Goes to BASIC if it finds nothing else to boot from.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 26 of 35, by luckybob

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Niezgodka wrote on 2021-11-30, 04:56:

I noticed, that my floppy connector is with pins, but that FDD adapter is a slide card like. Do I put it into MCA port? Which side up?

aww fuck, I hope he hasn't sent it and you can get a refund. Don't plug it in, its for other styles of machines.

I can never remember which machines have the card edge, and which ones have pins.

The floppy cable is non-standard, so be careful not to damage it. But if you have some spare 40-pin ide cables and some 36-pin connectors, you can make your own. (double check before you go ham) https://ardent-tool.com/floppy/Floppy_Pinouts … 0-pin_Card_Edge

in a nutshell, IBM in its infinite wisdom, didn't like the clutter of extra power cables. They also wanted to just be a dick. So they put the power and data on the same cable. (mostly) It's 100% hackable if you have the patience. you take a 40 pin cable, run the right wires to a standard 36-pin floppy and connect up some of the extra 4 wires as power to a standard floppy.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 27 of 35, by BitWrangler

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luckybob wrote on 2021-11-30, 05:14:

They also wanted to just be a dick.

The way I see it, the open architecture phase of the PC/XT/AT was seen as experimental to IBM, a product of the free wheeling hippies down in Boca. It's amazing it made money at all, thought the IBM old guard, what we need is traditional bondage and discipline, more customer LOCK-IN, so we can REALLY make money on this strangely enduring personal computer fad before it's over and we can get everyone to buy terminals and mainframes again. So the old guard meddled with the philosophy behind the new range, and as the 80s ran into the 90s probably began to take inspiration from Ferenghi business practices as ST:TNG was aired. So it was a back to basics fundamentalist return to the basic dickery that IBM had always been known for.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 28 of 35, by hyoenmadan

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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-11-30, 05:30:

... So it was a back to basics fundamentalist return to the basic dickery that IBM had always been known for.

I can't avoid to feel you just described modern Apple ways sir... or in broader terms, the FAANG ways...

Reply 30 of 35, by PhantomEight

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luckybob wrote on 2021-11-23, 06:57:
"only" […]
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Niezgodka wrote on 2021-11-22, 23:38:

I have PS/2 80 series tower in my collection. It is only 386.

"only"

The motherboard seem to be unusual type.

YUUUUP. Welcome to IBM PS/2!

Is there any way to upgrade the board common 486? What size I should look for in database?
The power connector seem to be different 🙁

Short answer, NO. Long answer, yes. - There exists upgrade boards for most PS/2 machines. They exist in the same way that a virgin exists at a whorehouse. If you're lucky enough to find one, its going to cost you an arm and leg. And I'm not being funny. The last 286 > 486 upgrade board I saw for the 60/80, went for about $1000 on ePay. cpu upgrade boards are a little more common. (plugging a 486 into a 386 socket). They still cost the same as a mortgage payment. I love my IBM machines. But god almighty, they are intentionally obtuse.

Haha if you were talking about that Reply Turboboard with the modded Dallas chip and the Pentium Overdrive for $800... I snagged that one.

But for upgrades if you can find to following,

Cx486DRx2 20/40 or Cx486DRx2 25/50 based on system clock and the TX486DLC/E-40GA can be had for $20...

https://www.ardent-tool.com/fspencer/8580proc.htm

Reply 31 of 35, by eisapc

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Did not know about the actual prices for the Reply Board.
Got my system years ago from a fellow MCA-collector for cheap.

http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohland-old/misc/mcmaster.html
would be another option to upgrade to 486, but may be as hard to find.
Got at least one in my collection too.

Reply 32 of 35, by Norton Commander

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pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-11-22, 23:49:

What you need:

Controller (any type) for hard drive, best to go with SCSI.

I have PTSD from the time when I was a PC tech and had to service PS/2's of all types. Model 80's like yours that had adaptec SCSI adapters but from what I remember the most common HD type was ESDI.

eisapc wrote on 2022-05-19, 10:30:

Did not know about the actual prices for the Reply Board.
Got my system years ago from a fellow MCA-collector for cheap.

My experience with those boards is that they are straight garbage. My then IT manager ordered a bunch as a cheap 386-486 upgrade for desktop PS/2 machines. Initially I was impressed that it came with on-board Cirrus Logic 54xx (forget the exact model) video since that's what I had in my own PC at home. Then came the board failures. One by one every PC that had those Reply boards just died. Lot of working nights and weekends to replace those boards only to have them fail again. The IT manager ignored our pleas to stop purchasing more of these boards, my guess is the sales reps must have been severely greasing his palm. Fortunately I left the company and never had to deal with PS/2 computers again. I found out that he was later terminated and escorted out of the building by security.

PS/2 computers are only good as boat anchors or ballast. The only thing I ever liked was their keyboards, they are the most durable mechanical I have ever used. I still have mine from over 20 years ago and all the keys still work with occasional cleaning.

Reply 33 of 35, by Intel486dx33

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386 and 486 CPU perform best with DOS/Win3x.
Win95 performs best on a Pentium class CPU.

For DOS/Win3x best game play performance you need 4mb ram and 1mb video card or chip.
Don’t worry about the motherboard cache. 64kb of cache is fine.
256kb of cache will only give you about a 5% performance boost at best.

4mb of ram is fine but 8mb of ram is best for DOS game play performance.
And 16mb of ram is very good for Win3x with 32mb of ram being optimal for Win3x.

I would try to find a fast IDE CDROM drive.

I think they sell those MCA sound cards on eBay.

There are lots off games and programs for Win3x.
Link:
Windows 3.11 Ultimate Build

Reply 34 of 35, by pentiumspeed

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Floppy drives has to be matched to correct face plate too, and the rail!

That compounds the search for replacement. Restore your floppy drive first before deciding to replace.

PS: with electronic minded, one can make a adapter to use standard floppy. The difference in need for pull up resistors.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 35 of 35, by Mike1978

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You can get the adapters at texelec for card edge (for model 80)

Or these guys are making them too

https://zzxio.com/product/edge-to-34-pin-idc- … r-for-ibm-ps-2/

Guys from the fb group (Mark et al)