Thread

IBM RS/6000 POWERstation 230

68kMLA PowerPC 22 posts Apr 29, 2008 to May 10, 2008

#1 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 12:25 68kMLA

Grabbed this off eBay for $15 BIN the other day. FedEx says it should be here today (its out for delivery actually). Its a small pizzabox chassis (type 7011), just barely larger than a 610 or 6100. It has a 45 mhz "POWER Single Chip" CPU, and I don't know how much RAM in mine yet. It also nicely has more expansion than a 6100 (8 RAM slots, 1 PDS slot, 2 MCA slots). Later 7011s (model 250) are special in that they were the world's first machines to use the 601 when they came out in October 1993. I like to think of it is a souped up 6100, just not made by Apple, and running UNIX.

#2 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 13:26 68kMLA

That's pretty cool. pixplz

#3 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 13:27 68kMLA

Mine hasn't showed up yet today (should be here within 6 hours), but here's pics of someone's -250 (66 mhz 601): http://www.focushacks.com/photo/rs6k/

#4 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 19:40 68kMLA

And it came. Turns out it has an extra Ethernet card in it. But here's the worst part. Someone stole the RAM. Luckily, I had 16 mb worth for it, but I need more to really do anything. It boots fine though!

#5 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 20:04 68kMLA

Ugly as sin! Cool as heck!

It seems this needs 72 pin SIMMs, like the 6100? Those aren't too hard to find. I've got a couple of 16MB sticks and some 32MB I'm not sure I need - if you put them in this thing I might even let 2x16 go for shipping (though I'm in Europe). It needs pairs, right? I just need to check where mine actually are - too many early 90's computer to remember...

#6 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 20:17 68kMLA

Yeah, 72 pin true parity is all it needs. Unfortunately, mine has the older boot ROM, so its limited to 8 MB sticks.

#7 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 20:33 68kMLA

Just tried booting it, it boots off its HD in service mode

. Seems to have 4.1.5 installed. Setting up NIM on my 7248 right now so I can easily reinstall a new AIX copy via Ethernet.

#8 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 21:09 68kMLA

Pics:

http://i25.tinypic.com/2uf6rg2.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/30xg9qt.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/2yy4cg3.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/29ei1dz.jpg

http://i30.tinypic.com/11kk0f4.jpg

#9 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 21:13 68kMLA

Pics:http://i25.tinypic.com/2uf6rg2.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/30xg9qt.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/2yy4cg3.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/29ei1dz.jpg

http://i30.tinypic.com/11kk0f4.jpg

Lovely! }

#10 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 21:30 68kMLA

Yeah, 72 pin true parity is all it needs. Unfortunately, mine has the older boot ROM, so its limited to 8 MB sticks.

Ah, damn. I don't have any of those.

Cool piece of hardware though!

#11 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 - 21:34 68kMLA

Turns out the HD is an 8.2 gig drive too. The 7011 is also nice and silent too!

#12 Thu, 1 May 2008 - 20:55 68kMLA

Found 2 sticks for it, so that'll help a bit.

#13 Fri, 2 May 2008 - 00:20 68kMLA

/me fires you for buying IBM

#14 Fri, 2 May 2008 - 14:23 68kMLA

Tis a delightfully fugly little box. Looks like it's around the size of a 605?

#15 Fri, 2 May 2008 - 14:38 68kMLA

Its near identical in size to a 610/660/6100.

#16 Fri, 2 May 2008 - 16:14 68kMLA

/me fires you for buying IBM

But... But... I thought nobody ever got fired for buying IBM?

This shatters my reality, but does nothing to help rebuild it afterward.

#17 Fri, 9 May 2008 - 00:56 68kMLA

/me fires you for buying IBM

Hope not, I just ordered two IBM x3500 servers for work.

#18 Fri, 9 May 2008 - 08:54 68kMLA

I believe he's referencing the the classic enemy of 68k mac, the IBM PC running MS DOS. But in the end IBM helped make PPC processors for the newer macs.

Don't worry, IBM does have some loyal fans, just ask anyone if they'd rather the Thinkpad X300 or a MacBook Air.

I like IBM manuals because they're like the Apple's because they

A) Are written in proper English

B) Have part listings and compatible parts (you can tells what safe to swap between models)

C) Good details about components (revisions, voltages, connection types)

D) Take apart diagrams and

E) Troubleshooting diagrams

#19 Fri, 9 May 2008 - 16:53 68kMLA

And what's more, they're freely available. Hear that Apple??? /shakes fist at sky

#20 Fri, 9 May 2008 - 20:59 68kMLA

But why is it so ugly? IBM clearly employed designers to create a schema for the PS/2 and workstation ranges. That bit worked, because you can always identify an IBM desktop or tower. But why so ugly?

#21 Fri, 9 May 2008 - 21:08 68kMLA

You think that's ugly? Really?

Frankly I think machines like the color classic are ugly, too many curves. Ungh. The 7011 is a functional well built machine, it doesn't -need- to look good.

#22 Sat, 10 May 2008 - 09:17 68kMLA

And what's more, they're freely available. Hear that Apple??? /shakes fist at sky

QFT++

The Tawbook walked me through the complete teardown and rebuild of my T41p. Words cannot describe the awesomeness.

Hey Apple - You wanna play in the enterprise ocean? This is just one example what customers not only want, but expect. I also want parts same or next day, no questions asked.