I always thought of the distinctions this way (from my basis of exposure from late 1970s through the 1980s) and from a higher educational setting primarily:
Mainframe = repairs required multiple technicians, some possibly there full-time; regular operator(s) present, and a locked door located between you and the machine; entire specialized room with raised flooring, extra-high amperage specialized power sources and wiring, and significant air conditioning
Minicomputer = Vendor still provides a technician (just one) for repairs, who drives in out in a station wagon; only a part-time operator only; an user can be located in the same room; 240-volt wiring, but not particularly outlandish
Microcomputer = Computer can sit on a desk or in a "normal" room; broken computer taken by user to someplace to be repaired or self-repaired; typically one user, and only 120-volt household or office power needed.
Supercomputer = a really fast and specialized version (primarily focusing on high-speed mathematical computations) of a mainframe.
Kevin Anderson
Hi,
I acquired an IBM PS/2 Model 80 (8580-071) today and am looking for
advice on what I should do to check it out before, during, and after
applying power for the first time.
I'll try to get some pictures if anyone is interested.
The label near the power switch says that it's an 8580-071. I have no
idea how that compares to the hardware that's in it.
There are two full size (5¼) hard drives, the controller card. I don't
know what type of drives they are yet, they look to be MFM / RLL like in
that they have the common cable and a per drive cable.
There is a video card that has a daughter-card in the same slot like a
thick sandwich.
There is another card that I don't recognize. The card doesn't have any
external connectors and it looks like it takes multiple (approximately
4"x4") daughter-cards. I am wondering if this is a memory expansion of
some sort.
There are two of what I believe are the memory boards between the back
hard drive and the power supply.
The battery is still in the system, but I didn't see any corrosion and
it's away from the motherboard.
There is also the degrading black foam used for air ducting. Blech.
Q: What things should I do as part of checking out this system. I'd
like to eventually power it up and see what is on the drives (if they
will spin).
I need to physically clean it with a damp rag and get some pictures of
the system.
Please share any pro-tips / gotchas / etc. that you think I could
benefit from knowing.
Thank you and have a good day.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
Greetings,
We're making final touches on a short history-video we've been making about
home computers (my daughter, in middle school, has been helping).
If anyone has time/interest to do a review, the draft listing is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9mgSVJZoFc
Unless anyone spots a gross technical error, we're hoping to render the
final sometime this weekend or sometime this month.
Thanks,
Steve
I wouldn’t normally post anything on eBay, but this looks like something someone should grab. I’ve no clue who the seller is, it’s in Massachusetts.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/295558572706
DEC Digital Equipment Corp VaxStation II GPX system with boards & T K70 untested
ebay.com
It is currently at $300. It could also be converted to a PDP-11 with the right boards. My PDP-11/73 started life as a MicroVAX II, and the BA123 is a great chassis. Of course it’s big and heavy.
Zane
Recently rejoined the list....
saw someone mention that site....
way too good to be true.... and with a bit of poking around .... looks
like most if not all are scraped right from eBay.
One item has the eBay price on the bryanipad.shop site crossed out and
the lower price added.....
I spent too much time on that site before vetting it....
Should have realized the pizza slice logo in the top left was a clear
indicator to run away (faster) :-)
(I think I prefer the original title of the video my daughter and I have
been working on - but still open to opinions about it)
Here is TAKE #10 (still AI narrated and a draft, but I found some Census
data that may be interesting and had some other revisions that I hope some
folks like!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eaolOAcvmg
In the Description of the above, I have a note on where to get the image
link if anyone is interested in that.
Thanks again for the support and encouragement. Over the next week I hope
to try out a Live Narration and wrap this up.
-Steve
summary of changes
0:28 expanded note on CRT (more time to press pause if you want to read)
5:04 new assembly line image, from actual TRS-80 "factory"
(still using term "motherboard")
5:55 Apple2 date set to April (going with "announcement dates")
revised "BYTE" quote (to be a little better organized)
6:46 revised intro of Z80
6:55 added Kildall image
7:12 revised intro of 6502
7:41 revised VisiCalc presentation (in 1979 he had split window, plotting,
and freeze panes!)
9:42 clarify credit of suggesting 86-DOS to Paul Allen (instead of Bill)
10:11 minor revisions in Tandy 1000 presentation
12:31 revised wording of Alto description
13:35 shortend PC-5000 description slightly
13:47 added census report
13:55 (forgot delay in showing critters)
14:04 added online services note
14:22 (more personal computers! extra points if you can name them)
The USB FDC controller ICs finally arrived and I am working to clear the
project desk to build a dev board. As part of testing, I'm wondering if
anyone has any working FD55B drives for sale with the HLS? I am the
market for 1-2 more, and I thought it'd be nice to get one for this
project instead of trying to liberate one of my drives from a working
machine.
I see the links on eBay (a few untested HLS variants and a working non
HLS one available), but would prefer a working HLS B.
Jim
--
Jim Brain
brain(a)jbrain.com
www.jbrain.com
A lot has been written about the origins of the microcomputer. I wrote a
book on the topic. Many thanks for mentioning Canada. Whether one is
playing games or doing something else micro-computing is usually associated
with a microprocessor as CPU. Anything earlier is a minicomputer or
something else.
Yet this is not the point of the video. Let’s enjoy what has been created
and give encouragement to the creators. Kudos to them.
Murray 🙂
It has been a long-time (almost 40 years now) since I worked part-time at an IBM dealer, BUT attended ALL the IBM hardware training (and later as an early corporate PC center manager), including the wonderful OS/2 presentations.
I also selected that IBM model for my father’s business software, which required IBM hardware in late 1980s.
Most of my documents went to on-line resources, like Tomáš Slavotinik (Ardent Tool).
Start with reading Tomáš reference documents … to understand what you have.
Ardent Tool of Capitalism
maintained by Tomáš Slavotinik
current as of 3 March 2023
IBM PS/2 model 80 [8580] : “Wrangler”
https://www.ardent-tool.com/60_65_80/
8580-071 Type 1 Planar
https://www.ardent-tool.com/8580/Planar_T1.html
—
The Diagnostic Disk and Support information for that model can be found there.
That Disk and a Fresh battery (as required) is a Good Start.
greg
chicago
==
Hi,
I acquired an IBM PS/2 Model 80 (8580-071) today and am looking for advice on what I should do to check it out before, during, and after applying power for the first time.
I'll try to get some pictures if anyone is interested.
The label near the power switch says that it's an 8580-071. I have no idea how that compares to the hardware that's in it.
There are two full size (5¼) hard drives, the controller card. I don't know what type of drives they are yet, they look to be MFM / RLL like in that they have the common cable and a per drive cable.
There is a video card that has a daughter-card in the same slot like a thick sandwich.
There is another card that I don't recognize. The card doesn't have any external connectors and it looks like it takes multiple (approximately 4"x4") daughter-cards. I am wondering if this is a memory expansion of some sort.
There are two of what I believe are the memory boards between the back hard drive and the power supply.
The battery is still in the system, but I didn't see any corrosion and it's away from the motherboard.
There is also the degrading black foam used for air ducting. Blech.
Q: What things should I do as part of checking out this system. I'd like to eventually power it up and see what is on the drives (if they will spin).
I need to physically clean it with a damp rag and get some pictures of the system.
Please share any pro-tips / gotchas / etc. that you think I could benefit from knowing.
Thank you and have a good day.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
