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  • Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos

    From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to MIKE POWELL on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 06:56:54
    MIKE POWELL wrote to DENN <=-

    Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25 from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC
    with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing
    elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

    At my last job, fairly recently, the organization had phased out a
    server room full of AS/400s. They had one remaining system remaining.

    In the server room, they kept a system running to use as a local means
    of testing and restoring individual tape backups.

    It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running
    OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer. IBM "pointing
    device", a heavy 2-button mechanical mouse.

    That was the exact system I'd used at my first job - in 1991!



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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to poindexter FORTRAN on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 12:56:57
    Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to MIKE POWELL on Wed Jan 14 2026 06:56 am

    It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer. IBM "pointing device", a heavy 2-button mechanical mouse.

    That was the exact system I'd used at my first job - in 1991!

    That sounds like a fairly iconic early-mid 90s computer setup. If I collected retro computers, I wouldn't mind having a setup like that. I've also thought it would be cool to have an old Amiga (maybe a 2000 or a 3000). I'd need to have room for a computer collection first..

    Nightfox

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  • From Mortar@VERT/EOTLBBS to Nightfox on Friday, January 16, 2026 02:11:12
    Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
    By: Nightfox to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jan 14 2026 12:56:57

    It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer.

    That sounds like a fairly iconic early-mid 90s computer setup.

    Late '80s, actually. The PS/2 80 came out in '87 and the 4019 in '89.

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  • From Mortar@VERT/EOTLBBS to poindexter FORTRAN on Friday, January 16, 2026 02:26:41
    Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Thu Jan 15 2026 08:15:44

    They were great systems - Micro channel architecture, with a fast bus
    ahead of its time.

    It's also what killed the PS/2. IBM was hoping it would replace their current line of PCs, but because of the PS/2s higher price and incompatibility issues with various hard/software, it was hard to find enough developers willing to work with it, so that never happened. Also, 5.25" floppies were still very much the norm, and since the PS/2 used only 3.5" disks, that was just another nail in the coffin.

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