Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ucsd!rutgers!att!chinet!mpcook
From: mpcook@chinet.chi.il.us (Michael P. Cook)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Ancient IBM PC wants more memory
Message-ID: <8382@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 6 May 89 14:24:26 GMT
References: <17324@mimsy.UUCP>
Reply-To: mpcook@chinet.chi.il.us (Michael P. Cook)
Organization: Chinet - Public Access Unix
Lines: 35

spector@brillig.umd.edu (Lee Spector) asks:
                                                                               
[I have an old IBM PC (not XT or anything) that I want to add memory to.        
[It now has 256k (with two floppies) and I want it to have at least             
[384k.  I've been getting conflicting stories from IBM dealers about            
[the cheapest way to do this.  Some don't even remember the machine,            
[and one asked me whether it was a PC 1 or a PC 2.  How am I supposed           
[to find this out?  The plate on the back says "model 5150".  I'd appreciate    
 
If you have 256K on the motherboard, you have a PC 2. The PC 1 had only
64K on board.  There should be a "B" on the back of your case if it's a PC 2.  
The PC 2 also has BIOS support for a hard disk if you should choose to add 
one. If you have a PC 1, you should already have a memory board which may 
not be full. Check if it has empty sockets. If not, you'll have to replace it.
 
In any case, any mailorder place these days should have a memory card for 
adding 0-384K RAM to an "XT" type pc.  That would work fine.  Some may 
include parallel, serial, and game ports.  I would think under $100 plus RAM 
should be easy to find.  I wouldn't waste my time talking to IBM about this 
computer.  They *have* forgotten about it.
 
By the way, I have a PC 2 (IBM PC 5150) with 640K RAM, a 42 MEG hard drive,
a 1.44 MEG floppy drive, etc. with no problems.
 
________________________________________________________________________       
Mike Cook                                                   Oak Park, IL       
usenet: mpcook@chinet.chi.il.us                                                
data:   312-383-6335 - Discovery Place BBS, 3/12/2400, 8N1                     
                     =>Home of Children's Software Library
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THESE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND ARE NOT SHARED BY MY EMPLOYER OR ANYONE          
ASSOCIATED WITH MY EMPLOYER (I'M SURE, BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T CARE LESS         
ABOUT THESE ARCANE ISSUES).                                                    
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