Manufacturer: IBM
Machine Type: PS/1
Model Number: 2121-A82
Serial Number: 23-8208591
Model Number for CRT: 93F0501
Serial Number for CRT: 23-0085490
Current Status: Excellent condition. Complete and working.
Acquired: Oct 1999
Remarks:
The IBM PS/1 was an attempt to make a complete turnkey consumer PC system available for the general populace. The PS/2 line was pretty much designed for the corporate computer world and didnt have much user friendliness to offer. The PS/1 was developed to be ready to use, right out of the box. As an example, all PS/1 models came with 2400bps modems (higher speeds+fax capabilities in later models) which allowed PS/1 users to access the IBM club for computer help, preloaded software and applications, user's guides and owner's manuals and a mouse. The early models were proprietary, but the later 386 and 486 models used a more standard form factor and parts. The 2121 series is the second generation PS/1 and used a special monitor which had the computer's power supply built into it. The 2121 stands for 1 bay/2 slots. The computer also has DOS in ROM so the computer boots quickly and can be reconfigured to boot from the hard drive as well. By default, the computer loads a 4 quadrant screen, giving the user an easy to choose menu. An interesting fact about these early models was that even the autoexec.bat and config.sys files were setup so that they would not show when booting; the first thing the customer would see is the 4-quad screen. This was to give a PS/1 owner a good overall out-of-the-box experience. Computers were/are deemed overly complicated and the PS/1 was specifically designed to get around that issue.
The particular model featured has a colour monitor and two hard drives for a total of 120 megabytes. It uses a 386sx-16 CPU. 2 meg of memory was standard and a Kingston memory module was added to this model to bring it up to the maximum supported memory configuration of 6 meg. While the machine was compact, it had limited expandability. A 14.4 bps modem has been installed and although there is one more empty ISA slot, there are size limitations due to the compact size of the unit. Originally the 2121 types were preloaded with Windows 3.0 and booted to a 4-quad screen, this one has been modified to boot MS DOS and Windows 3.1 from the hard drive. This computer looks and functions as if it were brand new. The introduction date of the 2121 types was 1992 so even though it's not quite 10 years old, the PS/1 was the start of IBM's consumer division and led the way to the current IBM Aptiva line.
PS/1 setup files
4QUAD6-2.EXE Allows the 4quad screen to be used when upgrading DOS
CONFIGUR.EXE BIOS setup program
CUSTOMIZ.EXE This program lets you setup startup options
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