>http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-PS2-MODEL-9556-2BX-USED-COMPUTER_W0QQitemZ8712830659QQcategoryZ74946QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem<
Ends Oct-29-05 16:27:10 PDT

Hi Louis,
Made shorter:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8712830659

     The '2' in the sub-model is "Multimedia or Token Ring Systems". I
see an ethernet card & no Ultimedia markings/adapters. 'B' is the
486SLC2-50 that we kind of knew already. What capacity is the 'X' hard
drive though?
                  David
                  David@IBMMuseum.com

"IBMMuseum" <David@gilanet.com> wrote in message
news:1130290230.307898.144520@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Louis,
> Made shorter:
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8712830659
>
>      The '2' in the sub-model is "Multimedia or Token Ring Systems". I
> see an ethernet card & no Ultimedia markings/adapters. 'B' is the
> 486SLC2-50 that we kind of knew already. What capacity is the 'X' hard
> drive though?

The xxV xxX and xxZ suffices are 1GB, 2Gb and 4GB, **IIRC**. Can't say that
I've ever heard of a 2GB drive Model 56 though, so be warned.
-- 
Regards,
        Tim Clarke (a.k.a. WBST)

On 10/25/05 11:14 PM, in article IwC7f.8202$Jl3.7362@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net,
"Tim Clarke" <SpamBlock.Monetaim.Com@cswebmail.com> wrote:

> "IBMMuseum" <David@gilanet.com> wrote in message
> news:1130290230.307898.144520@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> Hi Louis,
>> Made shorter:
>> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8712830659
>> 
>>      The '2' in the sub-model is "Multimedia or Token Ring Systems". I
>> see an ethernet card & no Ultimedia markings/adapters. 'B' is the
>> 486SLC2-50 that we kind of knew already. What capacity is the 'X' hard
>> drive though?
> 
> The xxV xxX and xxZ suffices are 1GB, 2Gb and 4GB, **IIRC**. Can't say that
> I've ever heard of a 2GB drive Model 56 though, so be warned.


Hmmm........I looked up that model designation and got something a little
different.  2BX shows in my book as a special config, 486SLC2 50MHz
medialess (no drives).  From the picture, it looks like they added an
ethernet card and a floppy drive (assuming they described the model number
correctly).  I didn't think a 56 would boot off a 4GB drive (or even a 2GB
drive; I always thought that the drive with the IML partition could be no
larger than 1GB?).  I found this in "Upgrading & Repairing PC's 4th
Edition".

-CN

Hi Tim,
> ...The xxV xxX and xxZ suffices are 1GB, 2Gb and 4GB, **IIRC**. Can't
> say that I've ever heard of a 2GB drive Model 56 though, so be warned...
     Not saying there isn't duplicates, but I show a 'T' as the 1Gb
drive. '0' should be no HDD (or the later characters can be something
else with a '4' "Special Bid" first character in the sub-model). But
that brings up another question: Do 'medialess' microchannel systems
need a floppy drive for configuration changes (and don't say you pull
the floppy drive after config, which is detected as a change itself)?
     The listing dances around whether there is a hard drive at all. It
almost disclaims it. Christopher could be right, but I still say
'medialess' has a floppy (ever see a blank bezel in that position?).
                         David
                         David@IBMMuseum.com

Hi,
I have about 10 of these units also model designation 2bx, supposed
"medialess workstation" but mine have small hard drives and no floppies,
although the 2.88 floppy i installed in one works great and the unit
autoconfigures, so who knows who did what eh? mine also have token ring
cards in them. wnat one without a floppy? $20.00 plus shipping from 92805 at
about 30 pounds (heavy little suckers they are.
Jerry
ps: shameless plug.

-- 
Brought to you from a COMPAQ PROLIANT 3000, check out  www.jerrysmicro.com
"Christopher Noyes" <cnoyes72@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:BF84715C.C6EC%cnoyes72@sbcglobal.net...
> On 10/25/05 11:14 PM, in article IwC7f.8202$Jl3.7362@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net,
> "Tim Clarke" <SpamBlock.Monetaim.Com@cswebmail.com> wrote:
>
> > "IBMMuseum" <David@gilanet.com> wrote in message
> > news:1130290230.307898.144520@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> >> Hi Louis,
> >> Made shorter:
> >> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8712830659
> >>
> >>      The '2' in the sub-model is "Multimedia or Token Ring Systems". I
> >> see an ethernet card & no Ultimedia markings/adapters. 'B' is the
> >> 486SLC2-50 that we kind of knew already. What capacity is the 'X' hard
> >> drive though?
> >
> > The xxV xxX and xxZ suffices are 1GB, 2Gb and 4GB, **IIRC**. Can't say
that
> > I've ever heard of a 2GB drive Model 56 though, so be warned.
>
>
> Hmmm........I looked up that model designation and got something a little
> different.  2BX shows in my book as a special config, 486SLC2 50MHz
> medialess (no drives).  From the picture, it looks like they added an
> ethernet card and a floppy drive (assuming they described the model number
> correctly).  I didn't think a 56 would boot off a 4GB drive (or even a 2GB
> drive; I always thought that the drive with the IML partition could be no
> larger than 1GB?).  I found this in "Upgrading & Repairing PC's 4th
> Edition".
>
> -CN
>

Hi!
> (or even a 2GB
> drive; I always thought that the drive with the IML partition could be no
> larger than 1GB?).

Depends upon the microcode revision that's driving the SCSI adapter. Some
IBM MCA SCSI adapters have "incompetent" code levels that cannot correctly
deal with a drive over 1GB. I think there are some IML-type processor
complexes that might have this problem too.

Other adapters (92x-series microcode "Spock", and later adapters like the
short uncached SCSI/A and the "Corvette") or complexes with new enough code
onboard can see a drive up to 8GB (not personally tested...anybody know if
the "Spock" can go to beyond 8GB?) and IML from a drive up to 3.94GB in
size.

Forgive me if some details are wrong. The general concept (IML over 1GB) is
correct.

William

"IBMMuseum" <David@gilanet.com> wrote in message
news:1130299033.792112.115330@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Tim,
> > ...The xxV xxX and xxZ suffices are 1GB, 2Gb and 4GB, **IIRC**. Can't
> > say that I've ever heard of a 2GB drive Model 56 though, so be warned...
>      Not saying there isn't duplicates, but I show a 'T' as the 1Gb
> drive.

Ahh! That "rings the bell" T,V,W should be the nGB additions. Sorry, memory
failure and I did emphasise the **IIRC**, to indicate uncertainty.
-- 
Regards,
        Tim Clarke (a.k.a. WBST)

Hi Christopher !

> I didn't think a 56 would boot off a 4GB drive (or even a 2GB
> drive; I always thought that the drive with the IML partition could be no
> larger than 1GB?).  I found this in "Upgrading & Repairing PC's 4th
> Edition".

It does.
9556 has the extended SCSI translation already. 8556 / 8557 haven't.
They are limited to 1GB drivesize for the primary drive.

I run my 9556-0BA with an IBM DORS-32160 2.16GB and I had a 3.5GB 
Quantum (Fireball IIRC) in it *with* the IML-partition of course until 
it all of a sudden bit the dust. (Like Quantums use to do)

It should be possible to use a 4.51GB DCAS / DDRS as well and use a 
special software to reduce the number of logical blocks to below the 
3.94GB limit. But I have a) none of these drives and b) no config page 
editor to do that.

-- 
Very friendly greetings from Peter in Germany
http://members.aol.com/mcapage0/mcaindex.htm

*** Reply to: peterwendt@aol.com only ! ***

Hi William !

> Other adapters (92x-series microcode "Spock", and later adapters like the
> short uncached SCSI/A and the "Corvette") or complexes with new enough code
> onboard can see a drive up to 8GB (not personally tested...anybody know if
> the "Spock" can go to beyond 8GB?) and IML from a drive up to 3.94GB in
> size.

The biggest drive I tested just recently is a 40GB Fujitsu (IDE + U/W
converter) on my "AOL-GATE" Corvette.
No problems. Simply works. I plan to substitute the DGHS09U (9.1GB UW)
with a bigger drive.

The "capacity" display rolls over at 16GB and shows some
irrational values in the systems SCSI config ... I vaguely recall that I
had something during (a very short) testing phase with an 80GB drive,
but I cannot say for sure anymore. The drive is in use currently, so I
cannot retry that fast.

.... retested it with the 40GB Fujitsu. It shows "-24544MB" in "Set SCSI 
configuration". Add 16.384 to it and that would be 40.928MB total.

The 40GB Fujitsu however even LLFORMATted fine with no trouble - even
though it was only some sort of imaginary format, since modern IDE
drives block out the LLFORMAT request. But the *system* needs it to get
the total number of read- / writeable blocks together and store the
value correspondingly.

I have it in the machine currently after using GHOST 7.5 to copy all 
stuff over from the 9.1GB to the 40GB.
No problem. Simply works. I love it.

-- 
Very friendly greetings from Peter in Germany
http://members.aol.com/mcapage0/mcaindex.htm

*** Reply to: peterwendt@aol.com only ! ***

Hi!

> The biggest drive I tested just recently is a 40GB Fujitsu (IDE + U/W
> converter) on my "AOL-GATE" Corvette.

There is also a page concerning this very subject on the Ardent Tools.
IIRC it was John Mes who tried to use 200GB drives on the Corvette and
possibly the Cheetah RAID controller. He mentioned a similar kind of
misbehavior with negative numbers and some problems with the Corvette
and a lone 200GB drive...

So the Corvette and at least one RAID controller have been explored
enough to answer my question of drive size on that front.

What I want to know is how far the late short uncached SCSI/A or the
SCSI/A with cache can go. Can they too be pushed to 40 or 200GB? Or is
their limit something much lower?

What I don't presently have are any SCSI disks over 8GB. That's soon
going to change--I have a Seagate Barracuda 9 (as well as a lot of
other, smaller Barracuda drives) GB drive coming in a lot. When they
all show up I'll try the 9GB on the Spock and short uncached SCSI/A to
see what happens.

If that Yamaha CD burner does indeed have an IDE>SCSI converter
onboard, it may be "borrowed" briefly for testing of some 40 and 60GB
IDE drives attached to the already mentioned adapters.

William

Hi William !

> What I want to know is how far the late short uncached SCSI/A or the
> SCSI/A with cache can go. Can they too be pushed to 40 or 200GB? Or is
> their limit something much lower?

That depends on the machine you use it in.
If it is a 95xx series machine which has the extended SCSI translation 
in BIOS already you will get good results with >8GB drives on either 
adapter most likely.
In an 85xx machine the SCSI BIOS (and translation modes) come from the 
adapter. Here the new cached Spock and the new short uncached with the 
latest SCSI BIOS is required or else you are stuck with the 1GB limit 
anyway. AFAIK the short uncached *has* the latest BIOS.

> What I don't presently have are any SCSI disks over 8GB. That's soon
> going to change--I have a Seagate Barracuda 9 (as well as a lot of
> other, smaller Barracuda drives) GB drive coming in a lot. When they
> all show up I'll try the 9GB on the Spock and short uncached SCSI/A to
> see what happens.
> 
> If that Yamaha CD burner does indeed have an IDE>SCSI converter
> onboard, it may be "borrowed" briefly for testing of some 40 and 60GB
> IDE drives attached to the already mentioned adapters.

The CD-ROM IDE bridge will not fit very well behind a 3.5" harddisk. It 
is 5.25" with the (sort of) standard CD-ROM rear layout and the card 
itself will  probably block the DC power connector. But for an 
experimental phase outside a case it may work nontheless.

-- 
Very friendly greetings from Peter in Germany
http://members.aol.com/mcapage0/mcaindex.htm

*** Reply to: peterwendt@aol.com only ! ***

"Peter H. Wendt" <peterwendt@aol.com> wrote in message
news:435fa565$0$32165$9b622d9e@news.freenet.de...
> Hi Christopher !
>
> > I didn't think a 56 would boot off a 4GB drive (or even a 2GB
> > drive; I always thought that the drive with the IML partition could be
no
> > larger than 1GB?).  I found this in "Upgrading & Repairing PC's 4th
> > Edition".

Hi Peter...

> It does.
> 9556 has the extended SCSI translation already. 8556 / 8557 haven't.
> They are limited to 1GB drivesize for the primary drive.

BIOS "patching" project, to be resumed at a later date. Too much else to do.

> I run my 9556-0BA with an IBM DORS-32160 2.16GB and I had a 3.5GB
> Quantum (Fireball IIRC) in it *with* the IML-partition of course until
> it all of a sudden bit the dust. (Like Quantums use to do)
>
> It should be possible to use a 4.51GB DCAS / DDRS as well and use a
> special software to reduce the number of logical blocks to below the
> 3.94GB limit. But I have a) none of these drives and b) no config page
> editor to do that.

With an FD 18xx-chip based system/adapter you can use the DOS "FDSDA /A"
utility/command to issue ALL SCSI-2 "Custom Commands" to any device. This
lives in the PWRSCSI4.EXE download from IBM or "Future Domain PowerSCSI!
V4.1" package from Adaptec (who swallowed Future Domain), or on the
suitably-provisioned Reply PowerBoard upgrade planar packages, as new. I've
been using this ASPI-based utility under Warp 3 for my "CD-ROM Changer"
driver development project, to explore the SCSI-2 commands needed to
initialise a real SCSI Media-Changer device, like the Pioneer DRM-1804Xs.
-- 
Regards,
        Tim Clarke (a.k.a. WBST)