Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Richard Cini via cctalk]

There are a few 8-bit VGA boards with dual outputs (9-pin EGA and 15-pin VGA) 
that I keep in stock. Quadram makes them. That way I can use either the VGA on 
my KVM setup or a vintage monitor. I’ve also stockpiled various ISA cards like 
MFM, SCSI and memory expansion like BocaRAM or AboveBoard.

In my AT, I have a Quadram board, BocaRAM (2MB) and an Adapted AHA-1522. Works 
great.

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From: cctalk  on behalf of Jeffrey S. Worley via 
cctalk 
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 9:32:28 AM
To: cctalk@classiccmp.org 
Subject: Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

I decided to get a tvga8900 for mine, as fiddling with 15khz ttl is
just too flaky and problemmatic.  Having a real cga/ega monitor would
be cool if I could justify the cost and the space, but a native fix is
an isa vga card so that's my solution.  I'm refurbing a 5170 for use as
an imaging tool, ISA tester, etc.
Best,
Jeff


Message: 23
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2020 10:20:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ethan O'Toole 
To: Bill Degnan ,  "General Discussion: On-Topic
and Off-Topic Posts" 
Subject: Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020
Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

> I delivered in a truck to the set up in Quebec the 20 IBM XTs that
you see
> in the movie Xmen the Apocalypse.  I retrieved them after the
filming.  I
> could set up an office or classroom of XTs.  A funny if not
impractical
> practical joke
> B

That is awesome!

--
: Ethan O'Toole

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Jeffrey S. Worley via cctalk]

I decided to get a tvga8900 for mine, as fiddling with 15khz ttl is
just too flaky and problemmatic.  Having a real cga/ega monitor would
be cool if I could justify the cost and the space, but a native fix is
an isa vga card so that's my solution.  I'm refurbing a 5170 for use as
an imaging tool, ISA tester, etc.
Best,
Jeff


Message: 23
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2020 10:20:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ethan O'Toole 
To: Bill Degnan ,  "General Discussion: On-Topic
and Off-Topic Posts" 
Subject: Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020
Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

> I delivered in a truck to the set up in Quebec the 20 IBM XTs that
you see
> in the movie Xmen the Apocalypse.  I retrieved them after the
filming.  I
> could set up an office or classroom of XTs.  A funny if not
impractical
> practical joke
> B

That is awesome!

--
: Ethan O'Toole

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Ethan Dicks via cctalk]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 9:59 AM Bill Degnan via cctalk
 wrote:
> I could set up an office or classroom of XTs.  A funny if not impractical
> practical joke...

About 5 years ago, I set up a classroom of discarded but essentially
modern machines (Core2 Duo but couldn't run latest Windows) at our
Makerspace.  For amusement, I set up a Commodore 64 in the back
corner.  It got a lot of laughs.

Except that we needed the seat for a student, I would have left it up
for a few weeks.

-ethan

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Ethan O'Toole via cctalk]

I delivered in a truck to the set up in Quebec the 20 IBM XTs that you see
in the movie Xmen the Apocalypse.  I retrieved them after the filming.  I
could set up an office or classroom of XTs.  A funny if not impractical
practical joke
B


That is awesome!

--
: Ethan O'Toole

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Bill Degnan via cctalk]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020, 9:32 AM Liam Proven via cctalk 
wrote:

> On Wed, 26 Aug 2020 at 15:10, Bill Degnan  wrote:
> >
> > I remember when the IBM XT was too new for a VCF exhibit, back when
> Sellam ran shows.
>
> I can believe that.
>
> I gutted 2 original working PC-ATs in about 1996 for cases for
> Pentium-class machines. I deeply regret it now but it was 25y ago --
> they were only about 10y old and not remotely collectable or even very
> interesting at the time.
>
> I still have 2 MDA cards and one screen from them.
>
> >  The perspective is of a person who was not really part of the XT class
> machine world when they were
> > pervasive.  To me he seems to be exploring how they work as he teaches
> his son, but I guess most people
> > forget at this point how to use a PC and DOS.
>
> Exactly, yes. The PC came out nearly _forty years ago_ now, and only
> middle-aged types like myself (52!) remember them when they were new.
> I didn't see one until Uni in 1985, when I was 17.
>
> Working adult IT professionals in their mid-twenties to early 30s
> today grew up only with multicore 64-bit machines and have quite
> possibly only used SSD-equipped machines at work. Most have never seen
> or used a floppy diskette or CD-ROM, and machines with ISA slots and
> optical drives disappeared when they were small children. They might
> never have seen or used any kind of rotating or magnetic media
> whatsoever. Some I have personally encountered have never used a wired
> network connection.
>
> The era of 16-bit machines with rotating 5¼" media  (floppy, hard or
> optical) that you can _hear_ turning, that take time to get up to
> speed, where as you wait a minute or two for it to creak into life you
> can _hear_ motors whirring up, is as unknown to them as spinning the
> thread to make their own garments.
>
> For me, who started out at work on a PC-AT and worked on PC-XTs, it's
> a smooth continuum, but it's easy to forget that it really hasn't
> been, and the days of text-only single-tasking command-line machines
> with moving parts are last century...
>
> --
>

I delivered in a truck to the set up in Quebec the 20 IBM XTs that you see
in the movie Xmen the Apocalypse.  I retrieved them after the filming.  I
could set up an office or classroom of XTs.  A funny if not impractical
practical joke
B

>

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

On Wed, 26 Aug 2020 at 15:10, Bill Degnan  wrote:
>
> I remember when the IBM XT was too new for a VCF exhibit, back when Sellam 
> ran shows.

I can believe that.

I gutted 2 original working PC-ATs in about 1996 for cases for
Pentium-class machines. I deeply regret it now but it was 25y ago --
they were only about 10y old and not remotely collectable or even very
interesting at the time.

I still have 2 MDA cards and one screen from them.

>  The perspective is of a person who was not really part of the XT class 
> machine world when they were
> pervasive.  To me he seems to be exploring how they work as he teaches his 
> son, but I guess most people
> forget at this point how to use a PC and DOS.

Exactly, yes. The PC came out nearly _forty years ago_ now, and only
middle-aged types like myself (52!) remember them when they were new.
I didn't see one until Uni in 1985, when I was 17.

Working adult IT professionals in their mid-twenties to early 30s
today grew up only with multicore 64-bit machines and have quite
possibly only used SSD-equipped machines at work. Most have never seen
or used a floppy diskette or CD-ROM, and machines with ISA slots and
optical drives disappeared when they were small children. They might
never have seen or used any kind of rotating or magnetic media
whatsoever. Some I have personally encountered have never used a wired
network connection.

The era of 16-bit machines with rotating 5¼" media  (floppy, hard or
optical) that you can _hear_ turning, that take time to get up to
speed, where as you wait a minute or two for it to creak into life you
can _hear_ motors whirring up, is as unknown to them as spinning the
thread to make their own garments.

For me, who started out at work on a PC-AT and worked on PC-XTs, it's
a smooth continuum, but it's easy to forget that it really hasn't
been, and the days of text-only single-tasking command-line machines
with moving parts are last century...

-- 
Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053

Re: Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Bill Degnan via cctalk]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020, 7:43 AM Liam Proven via cctalk 
wrote:

> I found this blog post quite interesting. I've left what I hope is an
> informative, helpful comment. I wonder if anyone else here would have
> more to add?
>
>
> https://www.forsure.dev/-/2020/05/19/640-kilobytes-of-ram-and-why-i-bought-an-ibm-5160/


I remember when the IBM XT was too new for a VCF exhibit, back when Sellam
ran shows.  The perspective is of a person who was not really part of the
XT class machine world when they were pervasive.  To me he seems to be
exploring how they work as he teaches his son, but I guess most people
forget at this point how to use a PC and DOS.

Bill

>
>

Buying and running an IBM PC-XT in 2020

[Liam Proven via cctalk]

I found this blog post quite interesting. I've left what I hope is an
informative, helpful comment. I wonder if anyone else here would have
more to add?

https://www.forsure.dev/-/2020/05/19/640-kilobytes-of-ram-and-why-i-bought-an-ibm-5160/

-- 
Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053