Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The IBM Personal Computer, aka the Model 5150, literally started the PC revolution. The IBM PC launched in 1981, and according to Wikipedia, "started at $1,565 for a configuration with 16 KB RAM, Color Graphics Adapter, keyboard, and no disk drives." Fortunately mine is better equipped, likely shipping from IBM with 64KB-256KB of RAM and at least one floppy drive. (I can't tell if some of the RAM in mine was installed after shipping, or had bad RAM replaced after purchase.)
And someone go some good use out of this 5150: it has a third-party CGA card (possibly to get an extra parallel port without taking up a separate slot), an AST SixPackPlus card, and a Miniscribe hard card.
When this computer had its Wheel of Regrets™ debut, it threw a double temper tantalum on power up. (And yes, I tested for shorts first - there were none.) One tantalum on the motherboard and one tantalum on a floppy drive both contributed to the smoke show. I'm glad I was behind my "blast shield" and wearing my nerdy safety glasses!
Tonight, we are going to pick up where we left off on Tuesday - I have created a few floppy disks using my Greaseweazle and we will use those to test the freshly-cleaned-and-recapped drive from L&Y Electronics. If that proves successful, we will pull the drives from the 5150 case and do the same treatment to them.
Will my freshly-written disks work on the 5150? Will I still have one spare drive at the end of the evening? Will we have another temper tantalum? You'll have to watch to find out!
*
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... or simply do the YouTube things: Like/Dislike, Comment, Subscribe, Enable Notifications, and participate in the Chat. These things help the channel, too!
**
Read Computerized Start™, my Official Blog: jdmcs.net/myblog
Follow me on Instagram: jdmcs.net/myinstagram
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The IBM Personal Computer, aka the Model 5150, literally started the PC revolution. The IBM PC launched in 1981, and according to Wikipedia, "started at $1,565 for a configuration with 16 KB RAM, Color Graphics Adapter, keyboard, and no disk drives." Fortunately mine is better equipped, likely shipping from IBM with 64KB-256KB of RAM and at least one floppy drive. (I can't tell if some of the RAM in mine was installed after shipping, or had bad RAM replaced after purchase.)
And someone go some good use out of this 5150: it has a third-party CGA card (possibly to get an extra parallel port without taking up a separate slot), an AST SixPackPlus card, and a Miniscribe hard card.
When this computer had its Wheel of Regrets™ debut, it threw a double temper tantalum on power up. (And yes, I tested for shorts first - there were none.) One tantalum on the motherboard and one tantalum on a floppy drive both contributed to the smoke show. I'm glad I was behind my "blast shield" and wearing my nerdy safety glasses!
Tonight, we are going to pick up where we left off on Tuesday - I have created a few floppy disks using my Greaseweazle and we will use those to test the freshly-cleaned-and-recapped drive from L&Y Electronics. If that proves successful, we will pull the drives from the 5150 case and do the same treatment to them.
Will my freshly-written disks work on the 5150? Will I still have one spare drive at the end of the evening? Will we have another temper tantalum? You'll have to watch to find out!
*
Ways to Support the Channel:
☕️ Tips or Support via Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/jdmcs
🈷️ Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/jdmcs
📦 Amazon Wishlist: jdmcs.net/wishlist
... or simply do the YouTube things: Like/Dislike, Comment, Subscribe, Enable Notifications, and participate in the Chat. These things help the channel, too!
**
Read Computerized Start™, my Official Blog: jdmcs.net/myblog
Follow me on Instagram: jdmcs.net/myinstagram
Follow me on Twitter: jdmcs.net/mytwitter
