Uncreative Labs

Joined: 18 Feb 2012 Posts: 26 Location: Las Vegas NV

Hi. I am very new to these forums, but I've been lurking here for over 2 months. I recently bought an IBM 5150 computer system with 256Kb mother board, dual floppy drivees, AST Six-Pack Plus card with 384K of RAM, parallel, serial and game ports, real time clock, a CGA video controller with IBM 5153 CGA minotor, an IBM 5152 Graphics Printer with paper and new printer ribbon, and all of it is in like new condition. It also has an original IBM 5161 expansion unit. But the expansion unit is missing the extender or transmitter card. Crying or Very sad

However, I have a set of transmitter and receiver cards that came out of an Everex, or AST expansion unit I had some 15 to 20 years ago and never used. Will these work as a replacement in the IBM 5161 expansion unit? They use the exact same cable to connect them together as the IBM's does too. So, in my mind, they should be compatible. What do you think? Question

Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 488 Location: pennsylvanai

I do have most or all of the pieces in the pile in the garage.
except the case. somewhere there is eben the cable
I offered it to the person who ran "the final frontier" bbs in nj
but she passed on it. send me a pm

Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Garden Grove, CA

I have a 5161 with both cards, but no cable, so if you just need the card and not the cable I could use the cable. I've tried looking for a cable for it with no luck. I can use the expansion unit with the pristine 5151A I just got last week.

Joined: 18 Feb 2012 Posts: 26 Location: Las Vegas NV

Once I figure out if I have an extra or not I will contact you, but also I know where to purchase one of these brand new, in different lengths. PM me for more details. Idea

Joined: 18 Feb 2012 Posts: 26 Location: Las Vegas NV

sgtsquid wrote:

I have a 5161 with both cards, but no cable, so if you just need the card and not the cable I could use the cable. I've tried looking for a cable for it with no luck. I can use the expansion unit with the pristine 5151A I just got last week.

Interesting. What cards do you have installed in yours? Also, are you using it to host hard drives too? MFM, or SCSI? Question

I'm trying to come up with a configuration that will get the most out of my expansion unit, without going to SCSI drives. In my case, I want to at least try to stay to a true IBM system as much as possible. I'm also looking for some things to really get that "Old School" look, like a tabletop cassette recorder similar to the Marantz units all over E-Bay, or possibly a decent reel to reel tape unit. I also want to get an acoustic coupler for dialing into a BBS. Yeah, so I'm a geek! Rolling Eyes

Still, these would be fun to use. Razz

Joined: 18 Feb 2012 Posts: 26 Location: Las Vegas NV

I got my expansion unit delivered. The extender and receiver cards I was sent previously are identical to the ones that this unit takes, so I'm good there. Now I need to get either a couple of full height drives, or a blanking plate to cover the large opening on the front of the case. There is one drive installed, but I have no idea if it works or not, and it's also missing the front plate. So, can someone here recommend a fix? I would prefer to get a couple of drives with their plates in tack though. Full height if possible Looking at E-Bay, I almost died. $200 or more for a single MFM full geight drive? Sorry, but I just can't afford that.

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 594 Location: Western NC

Quote:

I almost died. $200 or more for a single MFM full geight drive? Sorry, but I just can't afford that.

A working MFM full-height drive won't be cheap, unless you luck out and find someone wanting rid of them. Most of them have gone to the big byte-bucket in the sky by now. You might have better luck with half-height drives (such as a Seagate ST-225 or ST-251). With full-height bezels, no one else would know they're half-height.

Joined: 18 Feb 2012 Posts: 26 Location: Las Vegas NV

Thanks... I'm seeing that too, but I got lucky, very lucky.