40th anniversary of the IBM PC 5150

Congratulations!

Today is 40th anniversary of the IBM PC 5150.
I still have a lot of original parts for IBM PC 5150 made in 1981.

Comments

  • My 5150 is up and running as well ! My nephews and I have fun playing Wheel of Fortune on it (in CGA with 256KB RAM). I maintain notes about my setup here:

    https://destinyhunter.org/voidstar-ibm-pc-5150/


    I wrote DestinyHunter for the PET (1977-1980 models), but ported it to the IBM PC also (real mode 64K .COM file). So, consider it a new game for the IBM PC (even 64KB models) in 2021 ! [ the PET version is still better, as I haven't completed the PIT sound for the PC version ] Development notes and downloads found in the above link as well.


    I've been chewing on the notion where I believe that any .COM program can be written to a cassette, and then loaded and executed from that tape on the 5150. The original Diagnostic tool on cassette for the IBM PC gives a clue: the tape actually has two programs - a little loader program, then you run that program to continue loading the 2nd program (that is the actual Diagnostic program). The loader programs literally pokes what it is reading (from the tape) into RAM. Well, we can increase that initial loader program to handle a 32KB program.

    The only problem is - I don't have a way to write the .COM file to a cassette. The CASS5150.EXE program didn't work for me.

    Obviously, the best use for a 5150 cassette tape is to store your crypto private keys :)


    What's that yellow wire in your 5150 board? Is that something "Model A" originals had? I don't recall any yellow wire going along my dip switch bank on mine.


    Happy 40th! A Charlie Chaplin meme seems appropriate.





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