12 Aug
2026
12 Aug
'26
2:23 p.m.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2026 at 4:33 PM Jim Brain via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
...I am sitting here looking at a pretty clean 5160 XT
that has
been significantly stripped...
... I am trying to decide how important it is to have both a 5150
PC and a 5160 XT, since the XT was such a marginal update to the PC
(-cassette, bit newer BIOS, 8 slots instead of 5). The PC setup I have
already has 11 slots combined, an HDD, and full memory, video, and KB.
Still, it is an original IBM PC XT, there's some history there.
The usual first-line is how much personal nostalgia there is for a
specific machine or configuration. Lacking that, from a more
objective utilitarian approach is those differences made the XT a lot
more usable for real-world work over the original PC.
It was trivial to max out the 5 slots in a PC with minimal essential
peripherals (FDC, multi-I/O-and-RAM expansion, serial, video, and a
printer port, in various combinations of boards and options). 8 slots
in the XT plus a newer motherboard meant more open slots for devices
and a bigger PSU for cards and a hard disk. Compute-wise they are in
the same class but you can load more software and get more jobs done
with the XT, and even after the AT first came out, the XT was still
quite viable for some time (and the XT you already had was pretty
attractive compared to the $5,000 color-monitor-and-printer bundle
from IBM in 1985).
I'm struggling with how much importance to apply
to this "needs a lot of
TLC" unit, and I would appreciate constructive points. VCF MW is coming
up, and if I want to get this into someone else's hands to
restore/enjoy, then would be an ideal time. If it's important to keep,
VCF MW is probably a great place to grab the pieces needed to restore it.
If your 5150 does the things you want an 8-bit IBM machine to do, then
keep that and focus on making the 5160 appealing to the next guy.
That said, a few years back I tried to sell a 5160 in original boxes
with some small historical tie (it came from the founder of Grammar
Engine, makers of the PromICE ROM emulators that were once all the
rage). I had everything ready to hand over, working, in boxes, and
was asking $375 (Model F keyboard included!) and got no nibbles
whatsoever. It probably isn't the most collectible model by number,
so there it is.
-ethan