Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bu.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!emory!ogicse!milton!yoda.eecs.wsu.edu!wbonner
From: wbonner@eecs.wsu.edu (Wim Bonner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Info wanted on IBM Portable
Message-ID: <1990Oct29.204935.19390@eecs.wsu.edu>
Date: 29 Oct 90 20:49:35 GMT
References: <3643@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Reply-To: wbonner@yoda.UUCP (Wim Bonner)
Organization: Washington State University, Pullman
Lines: 37

In article <3643@idunno.Princeton.EDU> zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) writes:
>
>Hi!  I have managed to recently acquire an IBM Portable Personal
>Computer.  This is an old (i guess) 8088 machine that needs to
>be plugged in, has a tiny amber monitor built in, etc. etc.  OK, here
>are the questions I have, being mostly a Mac person:
>
>1) It has 256K at the moment.  Can I/How might I amp its memory, say to
>640K?

Well, the IBM PC Portable is basicly an XT in a box.  What this means is
that you can follow the old text files on how to add memory to the mother-
board and get the machine up to 640k on the motherboard.  I believe these
files are usually called something like 640kmb.txt.

>2) It currently has 2 5.25" 360K floppies in it.  Can I put a HD in it?
>Do I need a controller?  What kind of controller/drive?

You can put a hard drive in it if you pull one of the floppy drives and 
put in a hard drive controller.  Or you can do what I did and put in a PLUS 
hard card.  (It just about has to be PLUS as you only have one full length
full width slot.)

>3) Could I simply yank the motherboard and stick in some sort of 286 or
>386 motherboard, or will they not work with this machine?  

I have no idea on this option..  I have not tried it as there is 
only one full length full width slot on the machine, and if I was going
to get serious about upgrading the machine I would want access to more full 
length slots.  Right now my machine is pretty packed.

Wim.
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