Manufacturer: IBM
Machine Type: PCjr Enhanced model
Model Number: 4860
Serial Number:
Current Status: Complete and working, see remarks
Acquired: Aug 1997
Remarks:
The IBM PCjr was IBM's attempt to penetrate the home computer market. The IBM PC was still priced rather high so the PCjr was made in order to be more price competitive with other companies. The model pictured has the correct PCjr monitor with a volume control. The computer itself is sitting on top of an enlcosure which contains a Seagate 20meg MFM hard drive which attaches to the inside of the jr. The computer uses a cartridge that has BIOS routines to access the drive. Beside it is a special adaptor that lets both a clock cartridge and a special video cartridge to be installed at the same time. The IR reciever has been removed and replaced with a switch that mentions 'PC mode' of which its function is unknown. The computer has 640k and a printer adaptor installed. Also included with the jr are the 300bps modem, RF adaptor and serial cables in never-used boxes as well as the tech ref manual and BASIC programming guide also. Due to the jr's lack of DMA, the keyboard cannot be accessed during disk drive usage. The unit works as an unmodified PCjr, but the hard drive has crashed, just as every MFM drive will do. Future plans include reviving the hard drive and copying disks of PCjr programs to it.
Additional Resources:
IBM Canada Vintage PC website
[Classic Computer Intro Page] [Computer Collection Index Page (A-Z)] [D.B.Young's Page]
Questions about the PCjr? Email the curator