Recycling Rescue: IBM PS/2 Model 57 486 SLC2 Overview

The supply of IBM Personal System/2 computers started to dry up a few years ago and now they are nowhere near as common as they once were. I hadn't seen any PS/2s turning up for reasonable prices (the closer to "free", the better) until a few months ago when I spotted this system and its keyboard dumped into a recycling bin. I did not think that there would be any way to acquire this system. I thought about sneaking it out of there before making the decision to at least inquire about the store's willingness to sell it. Amazingly, they did! I saw the matching monitor on top of a box that was further back. While I would have taken it, there was no way I could reach it. This system had a lot of problems at first. Although I felt the CMOS battery was probably dead, it did hold the configuration and date for a few months until I made this video. I will replace it anyway. The original battery has been in there for over 20 years! (This system was assembled in mid-September of 1992.) This system originally shipped with IBM's OS/2 version 2.0 preloaded, a 104MB hard disk (IBM was apparently being more honest with the advertised disk capacity in this system) and 8MB of memory. IML stands for Initial Microcode Load. It was IBM's method to allow for easy BIOS updates without making use of a flash ROM. Under normal circumstances, the IML BIOS loads from a hard drive just before the power on self test starts. While IML did work, it required the use of an IBM SCSI adapter and limited the primary hard drive size to a rather curious 3.94 gigabytes. IML was used in some versions of Models 56, 57, 76, 77, 90 and 95. IML was eventually dropped and flashable ROMs appeared in a few PS/2 models before the line was discontinued in the mid-90s. The first two digits of any PS/2's serial number indicate where the system was made: 27 - United States 55 - Greenock, Scotland 72 - Korea* 77 - Mexico 97- Japan This may reference the majority of Asia and not just Korea. As far as I know, IBM did not assemble PS/2s in any part of Asia other than Japan. All of the (very low cost/low end) 8512 monitors were assembled in Korea by Goldstar or Daewoo and therefore have serial numbers beginning with 72.