IBM PERSONAL SYSTEM/2 MODEL 30-001 [Looking to upgrade? Advanced tech: Better security? Only $1,695]

IBM ^ | April 4, 1989 | IBM

[daniel1212]

Brief Description of Announcement, Charges, and Availability

       The Personal System/2 (R) (PS/2 (R)) Model 30-001 enhances the
current PS/2 Model 30 product line with a single diskette
configuration.  The Model 30-001 is a desktop system that provides an
8MHz 8086 processor, 640Kb memory, a 3.5-inch 720Kb diskette, Multi
Color Graphics Array (MCGA) graphics, and PC XT (TM) compatibility.
The system provides expansion flexibility with support for a second
diskette or a fixed disk drive.  The system maintains compatibility
with most existing IBM Disk Operating System (DOS) software.
       The PS/2 720Kb 1-inch High Diskette Drive is a 3.5-inch
diskette drive that can be installed as a second diskette drive in
the 8530-001.  The feature comes complete with diskette drive, bezel,
and installation instructions.
       The PS/2 5.25-inch External Diskette Drive Adapter Cable is
required to install the PS/2 5.25-inch External Diskette Drive and
Adapter on an 8530-001 or on any new 8530-021 or on any installed
8530-021 with serial numbers from 2500000-2999999.
       NOTE:  The 720Kb 1-inch High Diskette Drive and the 5.25-inch
External Diskette Drive cannot be installed in the same system unit.
 (R) Registered trademark of the International Business Machines
   Corporation.
 (TM) Trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation.
       Purchase Prices:
Personal System/2 Model 30 (8530-001)       $1,695
720Kb 1-inch High Diskette Drive               155
  (#1027) (6451027)
5.25-inch External Diskette Adapter Cable       21
  (#1033) (6451033)
       Planned Availability Date:  April 7, 1989

Customer Letter Section

HIGHLIGHTS
o   8MHz 8086 microprocessor
o   640Kb of memory standard on the system board
o   MCGA graphics standard on system board
o   Expansion flexibility (720Kb diskette or fixed disk drive)
o   PC XT compatibility
o   Optional 8MHz 8087 Co-Processor
o   Ergonomic desktop design
o   Ease of installation and configuration
DESCRIPTION
       The Personal System/2 Model 30-001 enhances the current
Models 30 product line.  The system features an 8086 microprocessor
and 640Kb of memory, standard.
       The 8530-001 comes standard with:
o   720Kb, 3.5-inch diskette drive (1-inch high)
o   Keyboard port
o   Pointing device port
o   Serial/asynchronous port
o   Parallel port
o   MCGA port
o   Three full-sized option card slots, which accept most PC XT
    adapter cards
o   Enhanced Personal Computer Keyboard
o   Time-of-day clock with battery backup.
       The MCGA port supports graphics and text modes including
640 x 480 in two colors and 320 x 200 in 256 colors for graphics, and
40 x 25 in 16 colors and 80 x 25 in 16 colors for text, and maintains
compatibility with CGA modes.
       The system has 128Kb of ROM including automatic power-on
self-test routines, IBM personal computer compatible BIOS, and the
BASIC language interpreter.
       Additional features include an open bay that allows expansion
of the system by adding a second 720Kb diskette or 20Mb or 30Mb fixed
disk drive option.
       The 8530-001 supports the following new features:
o   IBM PS/2 720Kb 1-inch High Diskette Drive (#1027) (6451027)
o   IBM PS/2 5.25-inch External Diskette Drive Adapter Cable (#1033)
    (6451033)
o   IBM PS/2 30Mb Fixed Disk Drive I (#1030) (6451030) -- (refer to
    Product Announcement 189-051, dated April 4, 1989).

       The 8530-001 also supports the IBM PS/2 20Mb Fixed Disk Drive
(#4115) (27F4969) previously announced.
       The 8530-001 supports all of the features currently available
under the 8530-021.  This includes but is not limited to the
following:
o   IBM Personal System/2 Math Co-Processor (#5001) (1501217)
o   Personal System/2 Speech Adapter (#5002) (1501216)
o   IBM 2MB Expanded Memory Adapter (#3905) (2685193)
o   IBM Personal System/2 Mouse (#8770) (6450350)
o   5.25-inch External Diskette Drive Adapter (#8750) (6450244)
o   Personal System/2 Display Adapter (#4050) (1887744)
o   PC Network Baseband Adapter (#1221) (1501221)
o   PC Network Baseband Extender (5173-001) (6134339)
o   PC Network Adapter II (#1220) (1501220)
o   IBM Token-Ring Network PC Adapter (#3391) (6339100)
o   IBM Token Ring Network Adapter II (#9858) (25F9858)
o   IBM Token Ring Network 16/4 Adapter (#7367) (25F7367)
o   IBM PC Music Feature (#6011) (81X8630)
o   General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) Adapter (#1503) (6451503)
o   IBM GPIB Cable (#5040) (63X4882)
o   InfoWindow (TM) Enhanced Graphics Adapter (#5420) (56X2412)
o   Serial/Parallel Adapter (#0215) (6450125)
o   Serial Adapter Cable (#0217) (6450217)
o   Binary Synchronous Communications (BSC) Adapter (#1204) (1501204)
o   SDLC Communications Adapter (#1205) (1501205)
o   Game Control Adapter (#1300) (1501300)
o   Data Acquisition and Control Adapter (#1502) (6451502)
o   3278/3279 Emulation Adapter (#5050) (83X9670)
o   Enhanced 5250 Emulation Adapter Kit, Version 2.12 (#2911)
    (30F5383)
o   Enhanced 5250 Display Station Emulation Integrated Cable Assembly
    (#2877) (6403635)
o   Display Station Emulation Adapter Kit (#2887) (92X0813)
o   5520 Display Station Emulation Integrated Cable Assembly (#2892)
    (6100218)
o   Realtime Interface Co-Processor (128Kb) and related features
    (#6165) (85X2710)
o   Realtime Interface Co-Processor (512Kb) and related features
    (#6166) (85X2706)
o   Realtime Interface Co-Processor Mulitport and related features
    (#6241) (00F5527).
 (TM) Trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation.
LIMITATIONS:  The Speech Adapter (#5002) and the 3278/3279 Emulation
Adapter (#5050) cannot be installed in the same system unit.  The
720Kb 1-inch High Diskette Drive (#1027) and the 5.25-inch External
Diskette Drive (#4869) cannot be installed in the same system unit.
ACCESSORIES:  Data Migration Facility (#5003) (1501224)
INPUT/OUTPUT DEVICES SUPPORTED:
       Displays:
o   8503 Monochrome Display
o   8507 19-inch Monochrome Display
o   8512 14-inch Color Display
o   8513 Color Display
o   8514 16-inch Color Display
o   4055 InfoWindow Display
       Printers:
o   3812 Page Printer
o   3852 Model 2 Color Jetprinter
o   4201-002 Proprinter (TM) II
o   4201-003 Proprinter III
o   4202-002 Proprinter II XL
o   4202-003 Proprinter III XL
o   4207-002 Proprinter X24E
o   4208-002 Proprinter XL24E
o   4216 Personal Page Printer
o   5201-001 Quietwriter (R) Printer
o   5201-002 Quietwriter Printer
o   5202-001 Quietwriter III Printer
o   5204-001 Quickwriter (R) Printer
o   5216 Model 2 Wheelprinter
o   5223 Model 1 Wheelprinter E
o   4250/II ElectroCompositor
o   4250 Printer Model 1
       Plotters:
o   IBM 6180 Color Plotter
o   IBM 6184 Color Plotter
o   IBM 6186 Model 1, 2 Color Plotter
o   IBM 7372 Color Plotter
o   IBM 7374 Color Plotter
o   IBM 7375 Model 1, 2 Color Plotter
       Scanners:
o   IBM 3117 Scanner
o   IBM 3118 Scanner
       Tape:
o   IBM 6157 Streaming Tape Drive
o   IBM 6157 Streaming Tape Drive Model 2
       Other Devices:
o   IBM 4869 5.25-inch External Diskette Drive
o   IBM 3363 Optical Disk Drive (A01, B01)
o   ROLMphone (R) 244PC (#46900)
o   Personal System/2 Screen Reader (6450602).
 (TM) Trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation.
 (R) Registered trademark of the International Business Machines
   Corporation.
NATIONAL LANGUAGE SUPPORT (NLS)
NLS support is provided for the following languages:  U.S. English,
Worldwide English (U.K.), French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Latin-American Spanish, Danish, Belgian (Flemish/French), Dutch,
Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swiss (German/French),
Canadian-French, Arabic, and Hebrew.

[Kevmo]

Back then we had BBS.

[daniel1212]

Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft ... and the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor. — Wernher von Braun Supercomputer Takes 40 Minutes To Model 1 Second of Brain Activity

Researchers in Germany and Japan used K, the fourth-most powerful supercomputer in the world, to simulate brain activity. With more than 700,000 processor cores and 1.4 million gigabytes of RAM, K simulated the interplay of 1.73 billion nerve cells and more than 10 trillion synapses, or junctions between brain cells. Though that may sound like a lot of brain cells and connections, it represents just 1 percent of the human brain's network. - https://www.livescience.com/42561-supercomputer-models-brain-activity.html

[Kevmo]

Appleworks was better than Lotus123

[daniel1212]

At $1695 in 1989, the Inflation Calculator, puts the equivalent price in todays deflated money at $3576. Dude, $3500 will buy a crapload of computing power today. I spent considerably less on the desktop I built last year with 16 cores, and 32GB of ram.

Yes, a home-built will save money. Prices have risen but in 2019 I built this for low-cost under $400 (OS not included). I since added 16GB more RAM and a 512GB NVME. Thank God I could.

[daniel1212]

I meant this: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3773784/posts

[Dr. Sivana]

Maybe still used in missile silos?

Nah. Those would use at least a Model 55 (386sx) or more likely a Model 80 (a bit of a missle silo itself, with numerous MCA slots). When the Model 30 came out, it was already old technology. There would be little reason to upgrade an existing XT, XT-286, 3270-PC or AT.

[Bikkuri]

"Appleworks was better than Lotus123"

I used Quatro Pro ;^)

[AFreeBird]

I spent around $3,200.00 for myfirst second computer. An 8 bit monster running at a blazingly fast 4.77 MHz. Two 360K DSDD 5.25” floppies. Amber composite monitor. In today’s dollars that’s $9,200.61

[itsahoot]

We bought and networked several of these at the office. Once we had all we needed I recall them being about $4500 a piece.

Coleco Adam 1983 Was my first venture with a computer and a printer. I seem to remember it was rather cheap. But in truth the $100.00 Times Sinclare was my first real computer. I did have a video game that ran tiny Palo Alto Basic with a keyboard that had three values to each key on the pad. No storage whatsoever tho they claimed you could back it up to any tape recorder, never had any success with that tho.

[Kevmo]

It is a mystery why some of these platforms did not thrive.

[minnesota_bound]

Here is a minor upgrade you can get.

The ULTIMATE $20,000 Desk PC.
https://youtu.be/DS3zCN4NsQY?t=59

[Kevmo]

4.77 MHz

Do you now why ethernet was invented at 3.33 MHz at PARC? Because that was the clock speed of the processor.

Going to 10 MHz was a piece of cake. Going to 10/100MHz over phone wires was a bit of work. Going to Gigaherz speed over phone wires meant using old, previously unused phone wires in the 8-wire system.

Going over air meant confronting the much higher attenuation of air versus conductors.

I am surprised it worked.

[zeugma]

That’s a bit less than I spent to build my box last year. Then again, the target box I build is designed to last 10 years. My previous build was 9yo. The only reason it really ‘needed’ to be replaced is because I use VMWare Workstation pretty extensively with my job, and the latest version wouldn’t run on my old box because the CPU was no longer supported. There really wasn’t anything wrong with it. It was plenty fast for my purposes. (sigh)

I think the end price tag was about $1200, and I can easily see it being plenty of computer a decade from now.

For most folks, that $400 box would do well for a desktop. My needs are a little bit more aggressive.

[daniel1212]

Overkill meter is in the red!

[daniel1212]

For most folks, that $400 box would do well for a desktop. My needs are a little bit more aggressive.

I push mine, with over 400 tabs open across 5 browsers and multiple documents programs, and so I can use up too much RAM and see lag unless I restart a broswer or two, but I go can weeks without needing to reboot. And AMD processors are harder ti find now (out of stock).

[zeugma]

but I go can weeks without needing to reboot.

LOL. The only thing I reboot for are kernel upgrades. I reboot about 3 times a year.

[daniel1212]

LOL. The only thing I reboot for are kernel upgrades. I reboot about 3 times a year.

Well I hope you get some sleep though! Time for me to do that. Let's see, "Disable hibernation" but "Allow brain to sleep...CPU 15%" but "wake on ring."

[martin_fierro]

I saw those for sale back then at a Meijer's in Michigan.

I wondered what it'd be like to ACTUALLY HAVE A PERSONAL COMPUTER, but the price tag of ~$600 scared me off.

3 years later I jumped in with a $1000 PC clone and never looked back.

[thirst4truth]

So you have had a computer as long as I have. We too got a loan from a bank to buy our first computer, it was a clone of the IBM a little cheaper and mail order from Cosmic Computers out of LA, we were in silicon valley at the time.

We began selling them pretty soon after that, got a call from the Concord, CA District Attorney to help them set up a network in their offices, about 3 months after we got our first computer, we declined didn't know anything about it. In that area of CA, everybody wanted a computer.

[zeugma]

Let's see, "Disable hibernation" but "Allow brain to sleep...CPU 15%" but "wake on ring."

LOL. I'll sleep when I'm dead. Sleep interrupts my viewing of cat videos.