zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) (10/28/90)
Hi! I have managed to recently acquire an IBM Portable Personal Computer. This is an old (i guess) 8088 machine that needs to be plugged in, has a tiny amber monitor built in, etc. etc. OK, here are the questions I have, being mostly a Mac person: 1) It has 256K at the moment. Can I/How might I amp its memory, say to 640K? 2) It currently has 2 5.25" 360K floppies in it. Can I put a HD in it? Do I need a controller? What kind of controller/drive? 3) Could I simply yank the motherboard and stick in some sort of 286 or 386 motherboard, or will they not work with this machine? Actually, any info you have on it would be much, much appreciated. Thanks! -JBZimmerman! ___________ |-Here comes your father. || | -Henry V || ||acob Zimmerman!+> <zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> INTERNET === | <zimerman@PUCC> BITnet
rick@lrark.UUCP (Rick Mobley) (10/29/90)
In article <3643@idunno.Princeton.EDU> zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) writes: > >Hi! I have managed to recently acquire an IBM Portable Personal >Computer. This is an old (i guess) 8088 machine that needs to >be plugged in, has a tiny amber monitor built in, etc. etc. OK, here >are the questions I have, being mostly a Mac person: > >1) It has 256K at the moment. Can I/How might I amp its memory, say to >640K? You can either add a memory card like an AST 6-pack or equivilent, or you can change out the decoder so it will accept 256K memory chips. >2) It currently has 2 5.25" 360K floppies in it. Can I put a HD in it? >Do I need a controller? What kind of controller/drive? Yes, any good Western Digital HD controller will handle a drive like the Segate ST-125. I recommend a 3.5" HD so you will have some shock absorbing action built in to maintain some portability. >3) Could I simply yank the motherboard and stick in some sort of 286 or >386 motherboard, or will they not work with this machine? I doubt you will find a replacement board, but maybe a baby-286 would work. >Actually, any info you have on it would be much, much appreciated. >Thanks! Your welcome. >-JBZimmerman! --- rick@lrark.UUCP * bang path --> uunet!ddi1!lrark!rick * Ricky Mobley * LRTUG (501) 224-9454 * 1800 Sanford Dr. #4 * GEnie Unix RT SysOp address LRARK * Little Rock, AR 72207 * WB5FDP.AR.USA.NA wb5fdp.ampr.org *
wbonner@eecs.wsu.edu (Wim Bonner) (10/30/90)
In article <3643@idunno.Princeton.EDU> zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) writes: > >Hi! I have managed to recently acquire an IBM Portable Personal >Computer. This is an old (i guess) 8088 machine that needs to >be plugged in, has a tiny amber monitor built in, etc. etc. OK, here >are the questions I have, being mostly a Mac person: > >1) It has 256K at the moment. Can I/How might I amp its memory, say to >640K? Well, the IBM PC Portable is basicly an XT in a box. What this means is that you can follow the old text files on how to add memory to the mother- board and get the machine up to 640k on the motherboard. I believe these files are usually called something like 640kmb.txt. >2) It currently has 2 5.25" 360K floppies in it. Can I put a HD in it? >Do I need a controller? What kind of controller/drive? You can put a hard drive in it if you pull one of the floppy drives and put in a hard drive controller. Or you can do what I did and put in a PLUS hard card. (It just about has to be PLUS as you only have one full length full width slot.) >3) Could I simply yank the motherboard and stick in some sort of 286 or >386 motherboard, or will they not work with this machine? I have no idea on this option.. I have not tried it as there is only one full length full width slot on the machine, and if I was going to get serious about upgrading the machine I would want access to more full length slots. Right now my machine is pretty packed. Wim. -- wbonner@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu 27313853@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu 27313853@Wsuvm1.BITNET 72561.3135@CompuServe.com
cur022@zodiac.ukc.ac.uk (Bob Eager) (10/30/90)
In article <3643@idunno.Princeton.EDU>, zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) writes: > Hi! I have managed to recently acquire an IBM Portable Personal > Computer. This is an old (i guess) 8088 machine... Yes, it's a 4.77MHz 8088. > 1) It has 256K at the moment. Can I/How might I amp its memory, say to > 640K? It has a standard XT motherboard and is therefore upgradeable. The details have been posted often on the net; let me know if you want them. You need a decoder chip (about $1.50) and 18 256K memory chips and 1/2 inch of wire. > 2) It currently has 2 5.25" 360K floppies in it. Can I put a HD in it? > Do I need a controller? What kind of controller/drive? You'll need a HD controller if you plan to replace a floppy. The power supply is not quite as beefy as that for a standard XT; a hardcard might be better although there is only the width of one slot in which to place it. A low consumption half height drive would work OK, and if you want a HD controller you might want to consider a short one to leave the full length slot clear. Or, get a combined controller (warning: the existing floppy controller sits in a slot that is about 7/8 the length of the normal one). > 3) Could I simply yank the motherboard and stick in some sort of 286 or > 386 motherboard, or will they not work with this machine? Given that you understand the power supply problems, I don't see why not. You would need to replace the display and drive controller cards unless the new board can drive them at the old clock speed. You would also need to consider the precise location of the slots on the new card (look inside and you'll see how tight the space is). ---------------------+----------------------------------------------------- Bob Eager | University of Kent at Canterbury rde@ukc.ac.uk | +44 227 764000 ext 7589 ---------------------+----------------------------------------------------- *** NB *** Do NOT use the return path in the article header *************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------