The 57 was announced in October 1992 along with the 56, and it is basically nothing more than a 56 in a larger case.
Just like the 56, there was an SLC2 and an SLC3 version, but unlike
the 56, the SLC3 version had a 486DLC3 processor, not a 486SLC3.
The 57 was announced in October 1992 along with the 56, and it is basically nothing more than a 56 in a larger case.
Just like the 56, there was an SLC2 and an SLC3 version, but unlike
the 56, the SLC3 version had a 486DLC3 processor, not a 486SLC3.
While this throws a doubtful light on IBM's naming habits, it is good news, or at least it could have been. The 486DLC3, while not a 486 either, was a genuine 386DX running at internally tripled speed, in this case, an astounding 75MHz.
But unfortunately, the planar was the same as for the other models. So this fine processor was stuck with a 16-bit bus, and a 24-bit address bus. Even the math coprocessor socket was for a 387SX. The 9557 486SLC3 came with 8MB RAM and cost between $2,995 and $3,465, depending on the hard drive.
Since it did not have to obey special safety regulations for government use, this case actually weighs less than the smaller one of the 56. The special switch that ensures it cannot be powered on with the case off is present here, too.
Usually it is an easy task to take a PS/2 apart and put it together again, with this case I encountered problems for the first time. Problems I seemed to share with the previous owners, for some parts were ill-fitted and slightly damaged. But I figured it out after all and was able to clean the case and reassemble it correctly. The fact remains that this case is less well designed than the earlier ones.
There was a multimedia (or, as IBM called it, ultimedia) version of the 57, with a CD-ROM drive and built-in sound. The volume control and two jacks were next to the power switch. Now that one would be cool to have.
The new PS/2® 56, 57, Ultimedia and Ultimedia DV M57 486SLC2, are Micro Channel® systems designed to complement and enhance the product line.
These products provide improvements such as: increased processor speed with the 50/25-MHz 486SLC2 microprocessor, an internal memory cache controller with 16KB memory cache, larger fast hard disks — 104 Million Bytes (MB)(model 0B6) and 212 Million Bytes (MB)(model 0BA, 1BA and 2BA), three (3) total memory sockets with one (1) 8MB 70ns SIMM located in socket 1 leaving two (2) sockets available for expansion up to 16MB on the planner, enhanced IBM Mouse, video provided via the graphics XGA-2 chip set designed to meet the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) requirements (refer to A92-902 and A92-848), a small computer system interface (SCSI) input/output (I/O) interface, enhanced security, two 9-pin Serial ports, and a high speed DMA Parallel port.
I bought this computer on the flea market at the end of March 2003. I was not completely sure I really wanted it; I made an offer bordering on the rude; it was accepted. Some people are pretty eager to get rid of their old computers. When I took it home and started it up, I found I actually liked it. The larger case makes a great difference, and it is delightful to see how fast DOS and Windows boot.
Internally this computer is in very good shape. It has the full 16MB RAM, probably since the beginning, because it was equipped with two identical 8MB SIMMs. It has been equipped with a larger hard drive (540MB).
At first I had no particular use for it, and had long run out of desk space for all my many computers. So it sat in a pile along the wall for nearly two years.
In February 2005 I bought some small computer desks on wheels and started reorganizing my computer collection. One of the things I hadn't been able to do was taking screenshots of 16-bit Windows games in their natural habitat. For this, the 57 came in very handy, since it already had Windows 3.11 installed. I installed the following utilities:
But taking screenshots proved not as easy as I had thought. One of the peculiarities of Paintbrush is that it completely ignores the parts of the image outside the canvas. So it's completely impossible to save the screenshot of a program running in full screen, or just in a larger window. Luckily I found the abovementioned LView Pro, which helped me across this threshold. While it does not support PNG, it is very useful, a simple forerunner of IrfanView.
In January 2006, I installed XGA 2 drivers which allow up to hi-color. I have usually set my desktop to 256 colors, however, and use hi-color mode only exceptionally, as when I took the screenshot of Klotz 2.11a.
When I started Download Central, I occasionally booted it up again, to take a screenshot of a 16-bit Windows game that won't run in DOSBox. Runner is such a game.
In December I got interested in old Windows versions again and set up a Windows section. I found that Windows 2 runs fine on DOSBox if you set the DOS version to 3, but Windows 1 will always crash. The 55 SX, on which I had installed Windows 1.04 earlier, gave me 161/163 errors, so I installed Windows 1 on this machine instead.
I found this was actually the better choice. Windows 1 does not check the DOS version, so it runs fine on 5.0. It does not support PS/2 mice, so it's good to have a 9-pin serial port.