Category Archives: PowerPC

PowerPC Archival

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Michal Necasek

For the 0.7 persons out there who have a working IBM Power Series desktop but not OS/2, here’s the first and final release of OS/2 for the PowerPC, from December 1995, as well as a beta plus cross-development SDK from … Continue reading →

Posted in Archiving, IBM, OS/2, PowerPC | 2 Comments

ThinkPad 850 Hardware Maintenance Manual

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Michal Necasek

Thanks to a very helpful reader (Mike Senior—thanks!), the OS/2 Museum can now publish the ThinkPad Power Series 850 Hardware Maintenance Service and Reference manual in the form of a PDF. This is IBM document number 30H2383. The manual might … Continue reading →

Posted in Documentation, PowerPC, ThinkPad | 5 Comments

IBM Power Series Exotica

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Michal Necasek

One might think that for example a ThinkPad Power Series 850 is an uncommon system, but such things are relative. The OS/2 Museum recently learned of not just one but two very rare Power Series systems, one of which is virtually a … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, PowerPC | 7 Comments

The Carolina Mystery

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Michal Necasek

On the weekend I decided to examine my old PowerPC 604 system. The case is from a RS/6000 type 7248, but the actual system board is from a Power Series 830. This is the famous Carolina board (or “planar” in … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, PowerPC | 6 Comments

IBM ThinkPad Power Series 850

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Michal Necasek

In the mid-1990s, IBM and Motorola unsuccessfully tried to create a new personal computer platform built around PowerPC RISC processors. Apple was initially a member of the alliance called AIM (Apple/IBM/Motorola) and used PowerPC processors in its own Macintosh systems … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, PowerPC | 40 Comments

Taking Screenshots of OS/2 on ThinkPad 850

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Michal Necasek

An article about OS/2 on a PowerPC-based ThinkPad 850 needed a few screenshots for illustration. Once an OS is installed and running a GUI, it’s typically possible to run a screen grab utility and capture screenshots digitally. But that’s not an … Continue reading →

Posted in OS/2, PowerPC | 4 Comments

OS/2 on ThinkPad 850

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Michal Necasek

The ThinkPad 850 was no ordinary ThinkPad. It was IBM’s high-end portable multimedia workstation, built around a 100MHz PowerPC 603e processor, with a list price of $12,399 (February 1996). The ThinkPad 850 was originally slated (see IBM announcement letter 195-176) to … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, OS/2, PowerPC | 18 Comments

OS/2 for PowerPC Tidbits

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Michal Necasek

In December 1994, IBM shipped the first beta version of OS/2 for the PowerPC to selected developers. This beta included the PowerPC operating system as well as Intel-based cross-development tools that ran on OS/2 2.11 or Warp. The operating system … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, OS/2, PowerPC | 8 Comments