Uncreative Labs

Joined: 07 Aug 2011 Posts: 24 Location: Las Vegas

Everything has been working great with both of my primary vintage computers. As most of you know, I have both an Apple lle with Duo Disk 180K single sided floppy drives, and an IBM 5150 with dual 5.25" 360 floppy drives and no hard disk.

Is there a current resource somewhere for what hardware is available for these machines and what the hardware is used for? What I need is a place to go where I can see a description of the card, part #, and what range of systems it's compatible with. I've been looking on Google, ASK.com, E-Bay and others,but I haven't been able to find a good site yet. Plus when looking at upgrades on E-Bay, I can't tell if the seller is just trying to unload a bunch of stuff and don't know what they have, or otherwise misrepresent the item. It's sometimes kinda hard for me to find what really is applicable for my computers. The main thing I am running into is that a lot of the cards I find are just not compatible with these two computers, or there are no drivers available to use with the operating systems. When I do find something interesting, I almost always find out later that it won't work with my systems, or the driver is too large to load into the system along with DOS, so there is no memory available for applications. Luckilly, I don't jump at something just because it looks right and have found a few upgrades that will work with my systems.

Any way, here's my wish list:

I need to upgrade my Apple badly, because besides the Duodisk and the associated controller card, it has no upgrades in it al all. I'm looking at getting an 80 column card to add memory and make it a bit more functional, but I also want to add some other hardware upgrades to really make this machine more useful to my wife and I for gaming and office type applications. Whay I want to find are things like a network adapter, additional memory, some sort of adapter to use a CF card for file transfer, and possibly a soundcard.

As for the IBM 5150, I am still looking for a serial card, compatible Ethernet adapter, an XTIDE card and adapters for adding a CF card slot on the back of the computer, sound card, and game controllers.

Also, if anyone here has some of the items I've mentioned and you are willing to part with them, please contact me so we can work out a deal.

Thanks for reading. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:32 pm

I've got a serial card for you, I think. For sure, I've got an 8-bit ISA parallel/gameport card with serial headers. (No idea what the jumper settings are, unfortunately.)

I've got more in another box, some even have the jumper settings printed on them.

Oh, BTW, watch out for the slot closest to the power supply on the XT. It's designed for a specific interface card (Wikipedia says it's to connect to IBM main frames) and not compatible with the other 7 slots. I doubt you'll let the magic smoke out; more likely something won't work.

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

my stuff is buried in the garage
but job number one is clear out in here so I can run the coal stove-- area is now full of boxes.
DRIVERS? drivers with DOS?
not normally an issue
mono/cha/ega
the slot on an XT (ibm not clone xt)
has "different timing charateristics"
it is intended for a serial card.
IF you are a Purist, I thionk a external modem up to possibly 9600 or less will
work. the restriction is the 8250uart (serial chip) it is pin compatible with the vastly improved 16650 chip
--think I have the numbers right.
Even an internal modem may
not operate at full speed as the speed of the cpu restricts it.

the IBM AT i/o card 1 s 1p has a 16450 uart which is better than
the 8250. a at/286/386 i/o car will also work. the uart is in a small postage stamp chip.

try a few older KB and try to find another that works, 1-auto 2 switched
(switch may be hidden in the kb foot)

I would also look for an EGA card
( set switches to none)
if you are using a cga monitor.
set the ega card switches to cga ,
monitor.
avois dos 3.20 and 4.0
ver 3.30 is good.

Joined: 07 Aug 2011 Posts: 24 Location: Las Vegas

Just to clarify; the IBM I'm working with is an IBM 5150 PC model, not the 5160 XT. However, I know that the upgrade cards are all compatible between the two. I don't know if the 5150 has the same "power supply and last slot" issue as the XT. Mine does have a parallel port that I'm trying to use with a zip drive. I'm also looking for a zip drive to install in my primary home built computer. That may be of some help in getting files and programs over to the 5150. Of course, that is also a pretty slow medium to be working with, which is why I would love to connect my 5150 PC to my network card. Then with Laplink3 or some other program, I can access the resources I have stored on my D drive.

I have over 3500 DOS programs, mostly games that I want to access, and every version of DOS that both Microsoft released. Using a stripped down version of DOS 6.22, I can load all of the DOS commands and add-ons from the zip drive as well.

My 5150 also has a CGA graphics card and is connected to an original IBM 5153 monitor. This thing is completely original. It's also in perfect shape too. I got VERY lucky when I bought this system. Although I did have to have the floppy drives serviced. They were both way out of alignment and quite gummed up. Now the entire machine is in perfect working order too.

There you have it, my friends. This is why I need some upgrades. I need some way to access the library of programs and games in order to start using the 5150 the way it was supposed to be used. I'm trying to keep it as original as possible, but with some minor changes, will make it even better than new.

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:20 am

I've got a couple Zip drives sitting around here that I never did use. I've even got 4 - 100 MB disks for it. One Zip drive uses a SCSI interface and the other IDE, I think. I might have traded the SCSI one for another IDE or maybe floppy... I'll have to look.

Joined: 07 Aug 2011 Posts: 24 Location: Las Vegas

Great. I could use the IDE drive. I have a couple of the 100 Meg disks too, but could possibly use a couple more. Puckdropper, did you get my PM?

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:47 am

I got a PM on Sept 12 and sent you an e-mail as requested. It was entitled "Software - Uncreative Labs."

I'm not sure where the Zip disks are, but I did see them a few days ago (I think.) I've been moving stuff around so it's all a bit of a blur. I've got both IDE and SCSI (50-pin) drives, and the aforementioned disks. Both Zip drives have a 3.5" tray to fit into a 5.25" slot, probably included with the drive.

I'd like to get rid of the Zip stuff as a bundle, just so I don't have pieces sitting around incomplete. That's 2 Zip drives and 4 Zip disks.

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:24 am

I found an 8-bit parallel/serial card. It's an Everex EV-170. Jumper settings are here:
http://th99.dyndns.org/i/E-H/50226.htm

There's no clock on this card, even though the jumper settings might imply it.

I've also got an Intel 8/16 LAN adapter card. It's 16-bit ISA but should work in an 8-bit system.

Joined: 07 Aug 2011 Posts: 24 Location: Las Vegas

Sweet! Those will be perfect. How much do you want for them?

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 2:28 pm

Well... some sites want between $50 and $85 for the EV-170... but I'd rather sell the item than inventory it!

Let's go with $5 for the Serial card, $5 for the network card, and $15 for the Zip set.

I've got 4 disks, 3 still in packaging and one that's been opened. No guarantees on the media, but I'll see about plugging the cards and drive in to see if they work.

Do you have a switch or hub for networking the systems?

Joined: 07 Aug 2011 Posts: 24 Location: Las Vegas

Updates:

Well, I have added a couple new computers to my collection. Both are IBM PS1s. One is missing some very minor parts but works; the other is not working, but it's complete. So, I'm going to try to find out what's wrong with the complete one, or I'll start moving parts and pieces from the non working PC to the working one to complete one good machine. I actually intend to use it to write floppy diskettes for my IBM 5150 Personal Computer. Finally, I'll be able to start using some of the software I've been downloading.

I want to also thank Puckdropper for sending me some productivity apps for my 5150 too. It sure does bring back memories of working in the computer lab back in college.