morgand@prism.cs.orst.edu (MORGAN DENNIS ALAN) (03/29/91)
I recently bought a PS/2 55SX without the knowledge that MicroChannel Architecture makes the PS/2 incompatible (hardware wise) with other pc's. I have some questions that I hope someone out there can answer. (1) Can you hook up any external floppy drive or do you have to have a special one? I heard that a special type was needed. If anyone has one for sell, I am interested in purchasing one. (2) Can you use any internal modem? Again I heard that you had to have a special one that cost $300+ . A bit steep if you ask me. Again I am interested in buying one. (3) What type of memory does the PS/2 use? I looked thoroughly through the so called manual and I couldn't find anything on the type of memory used. I need two megs. If anyone has some for sale, again I am interested in buying. That is all I can think of right now. Please send all comments, replies, slanders, etc. to : morgand@prism.cs.orst.edu Thanx in advance . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dennis Morgan | "The Crapintosh is the most UNuser-friendly Oregon State University | and expensive piece of @%#* that I ever | used . . . " | morgand@prism.cs.orst.edu | - hibbardc after throwing a mac morgand@mist.cs.orst.edu | across the room - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
uchuck@med.unc.edu (Charles Bennett) (04/02/91)
In article <1991Mar29.032128.15956@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU> morgand@prism.CS.ORST.EDU (MORGAN DENNIS ALAN) writes: > > I recently bought a PS/2 55SX without the knowledge that MicroChannel >Architecture makes the PS/2 incompatible (hardware wise) with other pc's. I >have some questions that I hope someone out there can answer. > > (1) Can you hook up any external floppy drive or do you have > to have a special one? I heard that a special type was > needed. If anyone has one for sell, I am interested in > purchasing one. > I really don't have a good answer for this one. I know the IBM solution uses a card and an external drive. Personally I would install a MCA, SCSI card and hang a floppy off of that. In addition you will then be able to hang another hard drive, CD-ROM, etc off the SCSI. IBM's SCSI is reasonable in price and Adaptec also makes a MCA model. > (2) Can you use any internal modem? Again I heard that you > had to have a special one that cost $300+ . A bit steep > if you ask me. Again I am interested in buying one. > Not that expensive. Practical Peripherals makes a COMPLETELY Hayes compatible MCA internal 2400 or 2400/MNP5 modem for about $179. Practical Peripherals is owned by Hayes and they use the SAME copyrighted/patented chip set. Again, personally I opted for the external version, cost about $219. Remember that machine only has 3 slots available - don't fill them with stuff you can put outside, not to mention use with your next machine. > (3) What type of memory does the PS/2 use? I looked > thoroughly through the so called manual and I couldn't > find anything on the type of memory used. I need two > megs. If anyone has some for sale, again I am > interested in buying. > The 55SX comes with two SIMM connectors. I can take either 2Mb SIMMs (not very readily available but can be had) or 4Mb SIMMs (readily available but a bit pricey currently). They can be mixed, i.e 2Mb in one connector and 4Mb in the other. DO NOT buy your memory from IBM - real expensive, I made that mistake on the first 2Mb upgrade. For more memory I recommend the Tecmar MicroRam AD card. It has 8 SIMM connectors, must be used in pairs - either 256Kb or 1Mb SIMMs. The Tecmar card has a real neat feature - it has a daughter board that takes up NO MORE space(slots) and can be configured for either 1 additional serial port and 1 additional parallel port or 2 additional serial ports. You must use 80-85ns SIMMs on the motherboard (or faster doesn't hurt) and the same on the Tecmar board to maintain 0 wait states. You can use 100ns SIMMs on the Tecmar if you are willing to have that memory be 1 wait state. Any of the above memtioned SIMMs can be obtained from ELKCO Corp. (800-243-5526) as well as other places. Oh, the Tecmar card costs about $268 and the daughterboard about $179. In summary, with 2 - 4Mb SIMMs on the mother(excuse me - PLANAR) board and 8 - 1Mb SIMMs on the Tecmar you have the maximum of 16Mb that the 55SX can address. BTW, congrats on your purchase - I beleive in IBM and PS/2's as a baseline product. > > That is all I can think of right now. Please send all comments, >replies, slanders, etc. to : > > morgand@prism.cs.orst.edu -- Chuck Bennett INTERNET: uchuck@med.unc.edu Medical Sciences Teaching Labs BITNET: uchuck@unc CB# 7520 University of NC PHONE: 919-966-1134(w) Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7520
tmottonen@cc.helsinki.fi (04/02/91)
In article <3173@beguine.UUCP>, uchuck@med.unc.edu (Charles Bennett) writes: > In article <1991Mar29.032128.15956@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU> morgand@prism.CS.ORST.EDU (MORGAN DENNIS ALAN) writes: >> >> I recently bought a PS/2 55SX without the knowledge that MicroChannel >>Architecture makes the PS/2 incompatible (hardware wise) with other pc's. I >>have some questions that I hope someone out there can answer. [...] >> (3) What type of memory does the PS/2 use? I looked >> thoroughly through the so called manual and I couldn't >> find anything on the type of memory used. I need two >> megs. If anyone has some for sale, again I am >> interested in buying. >> > The 55SX comes with two SIMM connectors. I can take either 2Mb SIMMs (not > very readily available but can be had) or 4Mb SIMMs (readily available but > a bit pricey currently). They can be mixed, i.e 2Mb in one connector and > 4Mb in the other. DO NOT buy your memory from IBM - real expensive, I > made that mistake on the first 2Mb upgrade. For more memory I recommend > the Tecmar MicroRam AD card. It has 8 SIMM connectors, must be used in > pairs - either 256Kb or 1Mb SIMMs. The Tecmar card has a real neat > feature - it has a daughter board that takes up NO MORE space(slots) and > can be configured for either 1 additional serial port and 1 additional > parallel port or 2 additional serial ports. You must use 80-85ns SIMMs on The Orchid RamQuest 16/32 Extra is also a good choice for a MC memory board. It can use 8 SIMMs, 256KB or 1MB ones. It can also be used in models 70 & 80 for true 32-bit memory (the card has the necessary connectors). It has one parallel and one serial port (serial cable included). The serial port uses the WDC 16550 chip, which is supposed to do FIFO-buffering. This board got good ratings in a PC Week Corporate Satisfaction Poll, and I've been very happy with it myself. I paid about $400 with two 1 MB-80ns SIMMs (from Bulldog). Teemu -- _________ Teemu Mottonen | | internet: tmottonen@cc.helsinki.Fi University of Helsinki | | bitnet: TMOTTONEN@FINUH Dept.of Computer Science |_________| decnet: HYLK::TMOTTONEN