Click here or click onto the photo for a full size version of this picture. The Model 80 was among the first series of PS/2s (30/50/60/80) released, and since it was the only machine of that series with a 386 machine, it was effectively IBMs first i386-based PC (the desktop Model 70 came a few months later). Over the years, there were a lot of different variants of the Model 80, ranging up to 486 processors, and third-party vendors offered main board replacements. All this made the 80 one of the most popular and widespread PS/2 machines, and it's quite easy to get hold of one. Shown here is the very first version of the 80, with a 16MHz processor and 40MByte MFM disks. Click here or click onto the photo for a full size version of this picture. The Model 80's case is the same as for the Model 60 and just as easy to disassemble (you could swap boards between the 60 and 80, and some of the 486 upgrade boards were also explicitly offered for both models): a coin is sufficient to remove the side cover, no tools are needed to remove the front cover and the large blue screws to fix the hard disks are really cool :-) The speaker/battery assembly is the same as for the desktop Model 50/70... Click here or click onto the photo for a full size version of this picture. The two hard disk monsters are of the MFM style, i.e. it's the same (slow) ST-506 controller as for the Model 60. IBM quickly dropped ST-506 in favour of ESDI in later model variants, and it wasn't even offered in the Model 70. Logically, the BIOS support for the ST-506 controller was removed in later board variants (20 MHz and up): You can configure the controller, but noone will access it...so leave the ST-506 controller in a 16 MHz machine. Click here or click onto the photo for a full size version of this picture. The Model 80's memory modules are truly unique: no other machine in the PS/2 line uses them! The board has two memory slots, and IBM originally offered 1MB and 2MB modules; The 4MB modules introduced later with the 25MHz variant are also usable, but the 16MHz board will use only half of them...

Processor: Intel i386DX @ 16MHz Coprocessor: Intel i387DX @ 16 MHz Cache: none Memory: 4 Mbytes (options range from 1M to 4M) Bus: 8 MCA slots (3x32 bit, 5x16 bit) Interfaces (onboard): Mouse, Keyboard 1x Serial 1 x Parallel Floppy (1.44M), allows attachment of up to 2 drives VGA Add-on cards: 3COM 3C527 Ethernet Adapter IBM ST506 Hard Disk Controller Operating System(s): OS/2 2.1 Caldera OpenDOS 7.01 Useful Links: Original Announcement from IBM More Information about the Mod. 80 Details about main board Reference Diskette

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