What extremely rare (non-prototype) computers do you wish you could find?

[ibmfiles]

Hmmmm... let's see:

• PC Server 720 populated with six Pentium 1s multi-threaded in its Corollary bus all upgraded to 233 Mhz with interposers--along with the PCI and MCA bus option. Running PCI and MCA cards has a lot of unique advantages. But... 1.4 Ghz (total) of Pentium 1 would be a wet dream. I forget the amount of RAM they can max out too, but I bet it could pass Windows 7 requirements.
• A Personal System/1 released in the uncommon 'black' colour (99.9% are beige).
• 9406-170 with the netfinity sub computer card (the one I had never had it sadly among other issues)
• PS/2 Model 25 with a native 486 "Reply PowerBoard" / although I do have mine configured with a 286-to-486 adapter to simulate the best that can ever be done.
• PS/2 Model 77 50th Anniversary edition. It came with a ChipChat loaded in it by stock and a special silver badge. Fortunately I already have a chipchat but I've never gotten around to doing anything with it yet--it's just neat to see a machine come with one stock since the MWave on the Ultimedias were crap.
• Beige ThinkPad 720C (99.9% are black).
• IBM 6150 RT with the 286 sub computer card (to run DOS under AIX on a hardware level instead of software emulation)

And yes, that's a list one crafts when they already own too much of almost everything

[Shiunbird]

it's just neat to see a machine come with one stock since the MWave on the Ultimedias were crap.

Am I the only person alive who likes the MWave card?

[Y888099]

it's just neat to see a machine come with one stock since the MWave on the Ultimedias were crap.

Am I the only person alive who likes the MWave card?

advantages? disadvantages?

[ibmfiles]

it's just neat to see a machine come with one stock since the MWave on the Ultimedias were crap.

Am I the only person alive who likes the MWave card?

advantages? disadvantages?

MWave doesn't have FM Synthesis which is the main reason why people dislike them so. With that said, the ChipChat uses ESFM and not "genuine" YMF262, actually. There are differences in how they sound.

[Shiunbird]

Am I the only person alive who likes the MWave card?

advantages? disadvantages?

My Aptiva came with one, and I appreciated the fact that I had a modem AND the sound card occupying only one ISA slot.
IBM was lame in configuring it, and the modem would not work out of the box unless you would disable the serial port in BIOS.

But I liked the on-screen modem status screen, and it could hold connections much longer than the serial US Robotics we had at the time (both V34 - is V34 28800 baud?)

Also, not sure it was a software thing, but the quality of the MIDI samples was far superior than the other computer we had with a Sound Blaster Pro.

Of course, I've never tried upgrading the firmware so it would do 33.600, or all the things that people reported not working and then they ended up suing IBM as far as I remember.

[pauliedweasel]

I'd like to see and try in person a working BeBox unit running BeOS (Be Inc Operating System) on a couple of PPC603 @66Mhz, and then I'd like to compare results with the @133Mhz version. Be sold around one thousand @66MHz BeBoxes and some hundreds 133@MHz BeBoxes, so I might have a chance.

I do have a BeBox in storage, I think it might be a dual 133 but I'd have take it out and fire it up. I bought it about five years ago on ebay and because of a heavy work schedule at the time it went straight into storage and I never had a chance to try it

[DBJ974]

mmm let me think : ....

- from SGI any IRIS 1xxx 2xxx 3xxx

- a Pixar Image computer (more difficoult)

- a CRAY 1 (my Unicorn)

[ClassicHasClass]

Oh, I'd love a Pixar Image Computer. That's a unicorn riding a narwhal right there.

[vishnu]

A Ferguson Big Board. If I recall correctly you could buy them at Sears, for any of us old-timers that remember that retailer...

[Dodoid]

Looked it up. There's a schematic and board view of the thing online!

http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/miscpm/bbdiags.pdf

[Irinikus]

I would give anything to have a fully functional Cray 2.

In my opinion, the cray 2 was the most elegant machine ever created!

[johnnym]

Hmmmm... let's see:

• PC Server 720 populated with six Pentium 1s multi-threaded in its Corollary bus all upgraded to 233 Mhz with interposers--along with the PCI and MCA bus option. Running PCI and MCA cards has a lot of unique advantages. But... 1.4 Ghz (total) of Pentium 1 would be a wet dream. I forget the amount of RAM they can max out too, but I bet it could pass Windows 7 requirements.

Missed that. Yes, the PC Server 720 would really be a fine machine. Would be interesting to see, if this would work with any "modern" OS (apart from OS/2 / eCS/2). The PC Server 720 memory configurator says that each memory board could take up to 512 MiB (16 x 32 MiB SIMMs). So a total of 1 GiB would have been possible, but as the sixth processor board would have to be installed in the lower memory/processor slot (according to the System Board Locations), only one memory board could have been installed for a total of 512 MiB with 32 MiB SIMMs when utilizing six processor boards. Not bad and maybe it could also work with higher capacity SIMMs. And even if one would go down to five or just four processors but up to two memory boards with a total of 1 GiB of memory, this would already be an awesome configuration for a Pentium (1) based machine.

[nyef]

I'd anticipate that picking up a 3-button ADB mouse (they exist!) might help with that last, though I've not tried it.

There is support for 3-button mice: the manual mentions the Logitech MouseMan. The only one I've seen is the (optical) Mouse Systems A/3, and finding them is not easy. It might be possible with a 4-button TurboMouse trackball, but I'm not sure.
(Most Mac pointing devices only send left-click because that's the only event that Mac software normally uses. The multi-button devices have all kinds of convenience behaviors like click-lock, shift-click, etc, and can also be assignable. But true middle and right click events were only used by X servers, A/UX, and orphan stuff like Genera, so support isn't necessarily widespread)

So, a spot of thread necromancy, though nowhere near as bad as the last couple of posts.

I have since obtained a MacIvory II, though it's not quite stable (seems to lock up fairly quickly, probably a thermal issue, with a bit of luck fixable with a suitable heatsink/fan), and... There are at least two versions of the Logitech MouseMan here. One is the "MouseMan Macintosh" which requires "MouseKey" 1.2, and one is the "MouseMan ADB" which presumably works with "MouseKey" 1.1 or earlier. And the 1.2 version mouse does not work with the MacIvory...

But, all that said, it turns out that the Genera CDs that came with my MacIvory II also include the source code for the application that does the host-side support for the system, and the mouse event handling logic is easy to pick out. Given the correct compiler, and API information for the other mice/trackballs, it is very likely that a version of the software that can talk to some other mouse can be produced. Even without the compiler, having the source makes it easier to track down what's what in the binary, and a binary patch might be feasible. If I attempt to tackle this, I will probably start a new thread for it. And I may not, as I just managed to get what should be the correct mouse on eBay.

[johnnym]

[...]
So, a spot of thread necromancy, though nowhere near as bad as the last couple of posts.

The thread title sounds pretty timeless to me. And dreams change over time, so I'm happy to post here in the years to come...

[johnnym]

I think a fully upgraded Starfire - assuming they're extremely rare today - would be exactly what I wish to find these days! (plus a supply of free energy...)