PC Turns 30 (IBM 5150)

The IBM PC (Model 5150) was released on August 12, 1981. It turned 30 today.

This is a little homage to the computer I grew up with. It was our household computer from 1981 until 1993. It is, as you can see, still working today.

This is the High Definition update to the half-hazard video I poster here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3aqJQPQKhs

For the real geeks out there, this machine has been heavily upgraded over the course of its lifetime. Gone are the two full-height floppy drives, replaced with half-height units and a half-height 20MB hard disk. It has 512KB of RAM installed in a full length ISA slot.

This machine ran applications like dBase III and Wordstar 2000. Games played on it included Sierra's Space Quest and Accolade's Test Drive, along with any number of text-mode games from BBSs run by dudes at the local high school.

This IBM PC never knew the Internet, but I think they'd get along just fine.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• personal computer
• ibm pc
• pc-dos
• ms-dos
• floppy drive
• 5 1/4
• 5150
• 30 years

[poggittrobo]

i need that donkey game on my pc!!!

[41D57]

@poggittrobo It was written in BASIC so I imagine I could get that code for you if you like - I believe it was a sample program, as was the "music" one that I used to play the Blue Danube.

[GoSkateTV]

You entered the year wrong ;)

mm-dd-yy = 08-12-11

[41D57]

@GoSkateTV

Actually the 5150 is Y2K compatible. 2011 works as a valid year entry.

[fragoleconcrema]

Those sounds.. the rattling of the HDD, the ventilation... oh nostalgia! The oldest PC I remember was a Commodore, running Windows 3.1 (so basically, a lot more advanced than this thing, but I do remember my dad using a LOT of DOS commands, even in a Win. 3.1 environment. It's kind of sad/shocking that today's youth probably doesn't even know what DOS was, let alone that they'd be able to use it!)

[luanswan2002]

@CaptainAppleManFilms lol

[CaptainAppleManFilms]

@luanswan2002 Yeah, it runs with ease. You only have to swap between seventy-two-billion floppy disks.

[bubbleheadft]

He took two half height drives and put them in the space that one of the original drives would have been in.

[bubbleheadft]

@apossumsbestfriend But before the internet, what more could you ask for?

[luanswan2002]

Can this computer run Crysis?