Does anyone recognise this computer? (UK)
Posted by Signal_Addendum3524@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 14 comments
I'm trying to work out what my first computer was. It was 1995 but I very much doubt my parents bought it new. Colour CRT, big wedge keyboard, separate processing unit, and no mouse.
I remember it came with games preloaded, and would have had office programmes too. Thanks!
FAMICOMASTER@reddit
the printer on the left appears to be an IBM Pro Printer, and the computer appears to be a PS/2 of some kind.
Scoth42@reddit
Looks like a PS/2 Model 50, though there were a few that looked similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PS/2_Model_50
muse_head@reddit
Yeah I think it's this, with an IBM 8513 VGA monitor.
It would probably have felt quite antiquated in 1995!
Signal_Addendum3524@reddit (OP)
Sounds about right, my parents wouldn't have spent much on it! My mum would have bought it to help her with some bookkeeping, but the exciting part (for my 6 year old self) was that it came preloaded with some games! I'm trying to hunt them down and need to start with an OS. Thank you!
ThisBell6246@reddit
I suspect the OS could have been OS2 Warp 3 or maybe even 4. If I remember correctly, 4.5 only came out in 97. You can find ISO files for OS2 on Archive.org. As a side note, both Windows 3.1 and Did games ran in OS2.
Scoth42@reddit
If it is a Model 50/Z then it's only a 286, which would limit it to OS/2 1.x. 2.x needed at least a 386 and Warp 3/4 wasn't really happy even on a middlin' 486.
ThisBell6246@reddit
Good to know
DrFrankenstein90@reddit
If it had no mouse as OP said, I suspect it might've just run DOS.
No_Transportation_77@reddit
Either a Model 50/50z or a Model 70.
Foreign-Attorney-147@reddit
I agree with this. We had a few of these still kicking around at my first IT job in 1995 and I'd recognize them anywhere. They were very outmoded by 1995 but IBM sold a good number of them so they were easy to get on the secondhand market.
We ran DOS and Windows on the Model 50s and either DOS and Windows or OS/2 on the Model 70s. OS/2 3.0 was a bit heavy for these machines (they dated to 1988/89) so we more frequently ran Windows on them, unless we had a very specific reason to use OS/2. Either IBM PC DOS or Microsoft MS-DOS ran fine on them.
DrXinFL@reddit
Looks like a IBM Ps/2 I had one the same
justeUnMec@reddit
Likely an IBM - that grey monitor bezel, and front bit sticking out on the computer unit, is very characteristic of the PS/2 era machines
TMWNN@reddit
Agree on the computer's front bezel shape, but the real giveaway is the IBM Proprinter.
justeUnMec@reddit
PS if it was 1995 and had a graphical interface it potentially ran OS/2 Warp? That was being pushed heavily in the UK with ads from '94 onwards (a lot of the OS/2 software was developed here).