The following is a list of documentation, software and hardware wanted by the OS/2 Museum. Donations are most welcome (the OS/2 Museum is happy to pay for shipping costs from anywhere in the world), although a reasonable price can always be negotiated.
Documentation
Either electronic or paper form is welcome. If necessary, the OS/2 Museum can convert images to PDF (with or without OCR).
- VESA Local Bus (VL-BUS) specification version 1.0
- PCI Local Bus Specification, Revision 2.0
- Any PCI Local Bus Specification prior to 2.0
- Original VESA VBE 1.x Specifications (not just ASCII text)
- IBM 386SLC and 486SLC data books
- ICS11614 aka Gravis GF1 documentation
- Crystal Semiconductor CS4289 datasheet
- Detailed information about Yamaha OPL2/OPL3 “LSI Test” registers.
Software
- Complete MS OS/2 2.0 SDK (any version, circa 1990)
- Windows 3.0 DDK (1990)
- Microsoft Programmer’s Library 1.2 (circa 1990)
- IBM OS/2 2.0 pre-release builds older than Spring 1991
- Intel ASM86 assembler version 1.0 (anything older than V2.0, circa 1979)
- Watcom C 6.0 or 6.5 (1988)
- Watcom C 7.0 (16-bit, circa 1989)
- Watcom C 8.0 (16 and 32-bit, 1990)
- Original Solaris 7 Intel edition (FCS, not updated)
Hardware
- A functioning ESDI hard disk
- Roland SCD-15/SCB-55
Acquired
A list of already acquired/available items. Over time, this section ought to get longer and the rest shorter!
- Intel Family Binary Compatibility Specification 2 (iBCS2). Intel order number 468366-001. Purchased on Amazon, ISBN 0-07-031219-2 (published by McGraw-Hill). Does not reference Intel order number!
- Texas Instruments 486 SXL2-50 (similar to Cx486DRx2). Purchased on eBay.
- Cyrix FasMath CX-83D87-40. Purchased on eBay.
- Cyrix Cx486DRx2-66 CPU. Purchased on eBay.
- Microsoft Programmer’s Library 1.1 CD. Donated by a kind acquaintance.
- IBM OS/2 2.0 pre-release builds 6.123, 6.167, 6.605. Floppy disks donated/purchased.
- A variety of SIPP modules. Purchased on eBay and directly.
- Microsoft C 5.0. Now on archive.org.
- Microsoft Programmer’s Library 1.0. Surfaced on pcjs.org.
- Intel 420TX and/or 420ZX datasheet. Thanks to Maciej W. Rozycki.
Contact
To get in touch with the OS/2 Museum, please leave a comment with a valid e-mail address (neither the comment nor the address will be published).
I surf your page, and I have a collection on CPU’s, and use some of this in a old’s PC’s, from 1994 with it contain a functional Cyrix Cx486DRx2 family model, this 66Mhz. K2LR533P.
There is real MS-DOS 4.00 i not talk about multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 is online.
Is version MS-DOS 4.00 called MS-DOS 4.0 Sampo Oem date 8-3-1988.
There was post be 6 disks in MS-DOS 4.00 Sampo Oem but there was 5 disk also make setup MS-DOS 4.00 incomplete without disk number 6. Website called Old-Dos.Ru restore original MS-DOS 4.0 Sampo Oem. MS-DOS 4.00 Sampo Oem is complete. To Setup MS-DOS 4.00 go to Disk 1 type Select(Setup) Setup ask you create Select Copy(Blank Disk). After that Setup want Install Disk is Disk 5 and Dosshell is Disk 6 now Setup Complete. After Setup it will boot to DOSSHELL.
This is download link for complete MS-DOS 4.00 Sampo OEM
http://old-dos.ru/dl.php?id=12367
WinWorld may have some of that software, for example Microsoft C 5.0 is here:
https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-c-c/5x
I suggest adding multitasking MS-DOS 4.10 to the list.
That’s unfortunately an incomplete archive of MS C 5.0 (but right now I can’t even download it to check).
Looking for a copy of “SurePath Bios Manual document S68X- 2341-02 IBM 1992 ”
which is the flash BIOS used on the late “PS/2” systems. FAIK, it was an IBM-Phoenix effort. I checked the Internet Archive http://www.surepath.ibm.com, got four? utilities, and that was it.
S68X-2341 is the book number for the IBM Personal System/2 and Personal Computer BIOS Interface Technical Reference. The last version I have is from September 1991 and that does not mention anything about the SurePath BIOS.
SurePath was a joint IBM-Phoenix development but I believe it started in 1993. The IBM PC Series computers (circa 1995) which came after the PS/2 and ValuePoint systems used the SurePath BIOS.
Just stumbled on this blog today. Thanks so much for making this and maintaining it. I’m in my 20’s at Oracle and really have a passion for computer history / tech history / tech business history.
I actually have a copy of Solaris 7 at my desk at work, but I’m almost positive it’s for SPARC though. That being said I found it at this place when I was out in San Francisco (I don’t live anywhere near there): http://www.weirdstuff.com/. I don’t think their online inventory reflects their physical inventory as they must have had 100-200 boxes of Solaris…
I know of Weirdstuff, although I still haven’t managed to visit their Sunnyvale store.
hi,
i am looking to get a copy of o.s. 2 warp 4 can you help?
thanks,
Nathan Saunders
No, sorry… I’d suggest Google and/or eBay depending on what exactly you need.
Helo Michal,
I have a complete
Microsoft Programmer’s Library 1.1a
w/ CD and paper.
Re DOS 3.20 vs. 3.21 — IIRC 3.20 *tried* to do parameterized floppy support (as was done in 3.30) but it was flaky. 3.21 removed that in addition to other minor changes.
Wow! I found your site while researching my collection of Intel 386, 486, and Overdrive chips. Your posts are very well written and packed with fantastic information. Thanks for putting this site together. Unfortunately I don’t have any of the items you’re looking for although I have an IBM-branded box for 3.5″ floppy disks. The disks inside are probably a random assortment of whatever.
Thank you for the kind words! Check those floppies if you can, there’s probably nothing too interesting but you never know.
Hi Kevin, I sent you an e-mail a while ago but I wonder if it landed in your spam folder…
Wow, I, as others, just found this site. Man, it has been a while since I’ve read OS/2 dialog. I was on the OS/2 kernel team (small team) and implemented threads and debugger support among other things. Crazy hours. I left in 1987 just before the first release.
Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft, I see. You guys must have been one of the first to implement threading, I’d say certainly the first in a mass-market OS.
And debuggers are so, so, so useful 🙂
Michaaaaal, help !
Have some old files that were ZipStreamed. I *know* that they had a DOS utility to unzip them. But OS/2 software (along with everything else that used to be on ftp sites worldwide) has disappeared !
Would you have a clue as to where one might find this antique but necessary utility ?
Besides that, how’s the world treating you ? I’ve been Irixxing for the past twenty years, maybe I’m a jinx 🙂 But both OS/2 and Irix kick butt over anything available today. Including OS X !!
Maybe I should get a mac mini and install Warp 3 on it …..
Sent you an e-mail a couple of days ago. Please check your spam folder if you didn’t get it.
Nathan Saunders,
If you still need help, try looking here: https://winworldpc.com/product/os-2-warp-4/os-2-warp-40
Not exactly on your wanted list, but this project might be of interest for you: https://www.patreon.com/posts/project-2ine-16513790 (I am in now way affiliated with it but just came across it)
It’s interesting, and I have heard of it, unfortunately a Windows-hosted version would be a lot more interesting to me.
4 to 8 1MB SIPP modules
there is this: http://sbfmdrv.blogspot.com/2016/01/using-simms-as-sipps.html
or I could mod you couple of simm modules
btw your ISP is blocking access from Central Europe (Liberty Global/UPC IP)
Thanks. I actually have those SIMM adapters now, though I have not yet tried them.
If you tell me the IP address (or range) I can unblock it. Probably too much spam coming from the network.
so you blocked half of central europe (biggest ISP in the region) manually? 😮 😉
89.66.160.0 / 24, thank you
Should be a bit better now.
nah, you blocked same ISP again
No, sorry, I made a mistake.
I checked again. You probably unblocked 89.66.160.0/24 as I selfishly asked :(, while this whole block is 89.64.0.0/12 (https://ipinfo.io/AS6830/89.64.0.0/12). ISP rotated IP assignments and bam blocked again.
Hi! I just read about your post of a TMS32010 DSP powered sound card.
Some years ago, I grab a Coreco f64 16bit ISA card with a TMS32020. I only managed to discover that is some kind of image acquiring and processing board, and that comparing it with some photos on internet, looks that is the cheapest model.
But I could find any software or documentation about it. Perhaps could you help me with it ?
I don’t have any information about that card, but perhaps someone else does…
Hello, One of the faculty at Georgia Tech has a sit of IBM Ultimedia Laser Disks for the Introduction and Overview of Ulysses. They’re part of the BM Ultimedia Illuminated Books and Manuscripts series of Laser Disks. They can reportedly be read by a Ultimedia M57 SLC according to this article. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/05/science/personal-computers-importance-of-being-multimedia.html
Any chance you know of a way to retrieve the data from said laser discs?
Thanks!
Pam Buffington
Answered via e-mail, but I’ll leave it here in case someone knows more…
Wondering if anybody might be able to help with this:
https://twitter.com/exlibrismrhunt/status/1092886160043474944?s=21
I’m a Teacher-Librarian. I don’t have a clue how to proceed, but would love to get this up and running with a few old floppy disk games to blow the minds of my students.
You need the Compaq setup disk… and possibly a new battery. I’ve never seen one of those machines, but someone else here might have. Perhaps vcfed.org is the right place to ask. Know the exact model of the machine?
Christopher:
There is a good chance that any setup disk for a “plain” 286 will work, but what another vendors setup program shows for hard disk parameters might not reflect reality. The hard disk type number might be printed on the physical disk.
If you haven’t got any 5.25″ drive in any other PC you could (temporarily or permanently) hook up a 1.44M 3.5″ drive (needs adapters for both the data cable (easiest to get a complete cable) and the power connector).
As Michal already said, you might need a new battery. What you should look for before you run it at all is if there is any leakage and corrosion from the old battery. Not sure if that model is affected but there are unfortunitely quite a few PC’s from the 80’s and 90’s where the battery leaks and damages the circuit board.
I came across old IBM SurePath BIOS documentation:
https://web.archive.org/web/19970710144440/http://www.surepath.ibm.com/documents/pubsdocs.html
Cool, at a quick glance I’d say there’s some good stuff in there. Do you suppose the Word or PostScript version survived somewhere?
The archived SurePath stuff isn’t quite complete, for example there is no section for INT 16h. Granted I seriously doubt the keyboard BIOS calls changed at all but if that is missing then there may be other things missing as well. This manual looks like it is a successor to the more common PS/2 and PC BIOS Interface Technical Reference.
I’ve never seen any original machine-readable versions of the IBM manuals, only PDFs that were scanned by others years later.
By the way have you ever come across the Programmer’s Guide to the AMIBIOS – https://ami.com/en/tech-blog/from-the-ami-archives-the-programmers-guide-to-the-amibios/
Since it was a hardcover book that was sold back in the 90s there is probably little chance that it was ever scanned.
Also do you know if the original LIM EMS 3.0 specification was ever made public ? I have the EMS 3.2 and 4.0 specs which were common but have been unable to find the EMS 3.0 spec.
No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the EMS 3.0 spec. Only reports about it in contemporary press and books.
And I don’t believe I’ve seen the AMIBIOS guide either. There were quite detailed Phoenix BIOS books published around 1990, and some electronic documents later. But basically since around 1990 it became really difficult to find authoritative BIOS information. Which I guess is why RBIL was created, though it was kinda like Wikipedia, not truly authoritative. But it was a mess with Compaq doing things one way, IBM another way, Phoenix yet another way, and AMI another way again.
I had the Phoenix System BIOS book back in the day – https://www.amazon.com/System-BIOS-Compatibles-EISA-Computers/dp/0201577607
I guess the PS/2 and PC BIOS Interface Technical Reference was the closest thing to an authoritative BIOS reference. There was also a PhoenixBIOS Users Manual which had their BIOS API (PDF for that is readily available). The fact that you had at least 5 different BIOS companies (IBM, Compaq, Phoenix, AMI, Award) each with their own variations upon the AT 339 base API was a problem. I also recall Byte Magazine had a list of BIOS calls which were standard at time (Volume 12 Issue 12 from late 1987).
I would say that RBIL was much more authoritative than Wikipedia since it was curated by one person who was technical and the submissions were from people who were also technical. Wikipedia is a free-for-all where anyone can edit and generally whoever has the most edits wins which often isn’t someone truly knowledgeable in the subject matter.
I have the older “Phoenix System BIOS for IBM PC/XT/AT Computers and Compatibles” book. It’s good, but very dated.
The information in RBIL was mostly accurate, yes. The bigger problem was what to do with it, because one could only guess what the bazillions of different clone machines were or weren’t doing exactly (while the brand name machines probably tended to bring the biggest surprises in terms of changes).
EMS 3.2 is Intel document 300275-003 (September 1985), EMS 4.0 was originally released as 300275-004 in August 1987, but I have only seen the updated 300275-005 from October 1987.
EMS 3.0 was probably 300275-001 in “second quarter of 1985) and reportedly was indeed released, but superseded by EMS 3.2 within a few months. Duncan’s Advanced MS-DOS Programming (among others) clearly marks which EMS functions are 3.0 and which are 3.2. No idea what 300275-002 was.
The original EMS 3.0 spec (300275-001) would be the interesting one to see. I guess -002 and -004 were minor intermediate revisions which were quickly replaced by their released successors. There was also a short-lived EEMS spec by AST, Quadram and Asthon-Tate whose functionality was included as part of EMS 4.0 though the API was different.
Was there ever any specification as to what BIOS functions should be supported by UEFI CSM or was it whatever functions were needed to boot Windows ? Granted it’s a moot issue now as CSM is about to be removed from UEFI altogether.
I could not find any information on the -001 and -002 revisions of the EMS spec. Someone probably still has a copy in the attic somewhere…
There’s no BIOS-requirements-for-Windows specification that I’ve ever come across. Quite a while ago I did see some third party web site listing what BIOS functionality was required to boot Windows XP, but I can’t find it now. It was LinuxBIOS or Coreboot or something like that.
Hello:
I´m from Barcelona, SPAIN, and would be grateful if you can supply me the source code changes of ISIS-II simulator
(in http://www.bloovis.com/geek/isis.html) in order to load ASM86. Your article “The IBM PC BIOS and Intel ISIS-II”
mentions:
“With the ISIS-II simulator, it is very easy to run ASM86 V2.0, more or less exactly 35 years after it had been released. Well, that’s after fixing the simulator to load ASM86 properly—one of the overlays includes an object record loading data at a low address, which the simulator rejected, loaded the module only halfway, and soon thereafter crashed.”
How to fix the simulator to load ASM86?
thanks: gonzalo
Give me a few days, I should be able to find the code. In the meantime I’m curious what you’re using ISIS-II or ASM86 V2.0 for…
I just acquired a Thinkpad 850 without any of the CD’s that came with it. I was wanting to know if you ever got iso images from a gentleman you talked with in that post all those years ago. I would love to get my hands on anything he had. Thanks
I do have something. I’ll try to get it on archive.org over the next few days.
Here’s what I have: https://archive.org/details/tp850-media
No guarantees. Be careful when burning CDs, the CD-ROM in the ThinkPad 850 might be picky about CD-R/CD-RW media.
I appreciate it so much as these devices are rare enough on their own let alone the software that came with them! Also, I agree on how picky some old cd drives are as a lot of drives I have do not like the Memorex CD-RW discs I have. In my experience, I have the best results with a stack of old CD-R’s which were burnt at something like 10-16x. Thanks!