Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!clotho!kutcha From: kutcha@clotho.acm.rpi.edu (Phillip Rzewski) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware Subject: Getting a free PS/2 Message-ID: Date: 29 Oct 90 03:29:08 GMT Reply-To: kutcha@clotho.acm.rpi.edu (Phillip Rzewski) Organization: The Voice of Fate Lines: 30 I have been using my silly Apple //c as a terminal for the past two years now and though I have had the itching to get myself a computer system that did more than emulate VT100, I never quite could bring myself to spend the money or decide for certain what I was after. Well, the choice was made for me as my mother's business appears to be getting rid of its PS/2 Model 30 machines and replacing them with a big IBM RS6000 or some such. Well it just so happens that come the first of this year I may be getting one. Problem is that though I know quite a bit about how to operate one of them, there are some hardware related things that I am quite curious, and since it is used I doubt it will come with many manuals to answer my questions for me. So I figured I would make use of this useful newsgroup. First of all, from what I know, all Model 30 machines came with MCGA. I don't like that. I would much rather have VGA, really. Trouble is that I don't know how to go about that. I was speaking with a guru friend the other day who told me that I could get any VGA monitor I wanted (ie I could buy an inexpensive one over the mail or something) but I would probably end up buying the graphics card from IBM due to the "MCA Bus" on the PS/2. Is this true? Are there any companies that make inexpensive VGA cards that will work in the PS/2 Model 30? Also, I have been told that IBM set out to screw over some Model 30 owners and stuck wimpy processors in them and claimed to have put 80286 processors in them. How can I tell if the PS/2 I get as the 80286 or the lesser processor? Please respond by mail. Any help would be appreciated. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + -Phil Andrew Haldryan Rzewski Internet: kutcha@clotho.acm.rpi.edu + + "I fileted them and ate them." Bitnet: USERF3DK@RPITSMTS.BITNET + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++