9 Mar
2023
9 Mar
'23
7:56 p.m.
On 3/9/23 10:16 AM, John Maxwell wrote:
Nowhere do I see any mention of a Model 80 Reference
Disk. If you don't
have one of these, you will not be able to configure the machine.
Yep. I'm well aware. This is not my 1st PS/2 rodeo. I actually cut my
teeth on used PS/2s in the mid-90s.
I _should_ have a copy of one lying around (or already
imaged/archived)
- the main problem is finding the ADF (Adaptor Description Files)
for the added features/cards.
The usual suspects in the comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware newsgroup have
already provided links to some ADF files for what they assume the boards
likely are based on my descriptions.
Aside: I thought that ADF was short for Auto Definition File. But I
can see how Adapter works too.
My copy of the Reference Disk would not likely have
any ADFs from
obscure cards, but should have the common files.
Based on my descriptions, the presumption is that I've got a standard
(for the model 80) ESDI controller, an 8514/A video card, and an IBM 386
Memory Expansion Adapter. I don't consider those to be too exotic.
Let me know if you need a copy. I recall that I had a
'master diskette'
with many collected ADFs which came through the lab. Would have to look
for that one, if interested.
I'm always interested in growing my ADF collection. :-)
ADFs were text files with descriptions of hardware
addresses and
the like.
That sounds like what I remember.
Not sure of what you mean by 'Rifas' in the
last question. Probably
an acronym or other abbreviation of something I may know about,
but nothing comes to my foggy brain presently.
My understanding is that RIFA is a brand of capacitor which had a model
like which is notorious for failing after time and they seemed to be
common in the '90s.
"Stiction" is probably not your biggest
concern regarding the hard
drives. The real problem could be stuck bearings - depending upon HDD
model installed. "Stiction" is the condition where the spindle motor
did not have enough torque to free the head from the platter surfaces
- the drives used in all of the PS/2 Model 80 machines that we saw
were beefy enough to overcome any "stiction" condition. We, in the
repair lab (years ago, of course), used to see this on the original
Apple Mac SE and SE/30 machines where a Sony 20Mb drive was used
(the model number has long since been forgotten and is irrelevant
to our discussion, of course) but we used to give them assistance
to last a couple of startups (or at least one!) for backing up data
by using our "inertial rotation" technique to physically spin the
drive using hand motion. We would (wrist-strap grounded, of course)
grab with our free arm the drive in axial alignment over the spindle
and rotate the drive a few times around back and forth in a snapping
action. 95% of the time it would work to retrieve the data before we
would RMA the drive back to Apple.
*nod* That's what I was referring to as sticktion.
I don't know the state of the bearings. Is there anything that I can or
should do for them?
The battery used is one of the old 6V photoflash types
(cannot recall
the model, unfortunately). I have a few of them left in my collection -
just ran into them in a box (with 2 or 3 left) a few months ago. Each
still had over 6v (no load) at the terminals. No idea how long they
would last in application under load, though, even though the Model
80 didn't use too much current to hold things in config memory.
ACK
My assumption is that the Model 80 has been powered off for years, if
not a decade or more. It's on the older end of a five computers I
picked up from someone who wanted them hauled away. I'm not holding my
breath that they powered the PS/2 on anytime in the last decade. ;-)
Just my $0.02 (not even sure it was worth that much).
Good luck with
your 80.
Thank you. You're sharing things that seem familiar. Which is
appreciated because it means that my memory isn't that far out of
calibration or bit rot.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die