IBM Personal System/55

PS/55 Model 5550-T
Developer IBM Japan
Type Professional Computer
Release date May 1987 (1987-05)
Discontinued 2001[1]
Operating system Japanese DOS (K3.3 - J5.0)
PC DOS (3.3 -)
DOS/V
OS/2
Windows 3.x
Predecessor IBM 5550
IBM JX
Successor PS/V
ThinkPad

The Personal System/55 (パーソナルシステム/55) or PS/55 was a personal computer series released from IBM Japan in 1987.

The PS/55 was successor to IBM 5550 (Multistation 5550), but the machine was IBM PS/2 compatible, perhaps it was also an IBM clone. Most models had Micro Channel(MCA) for business use. Later, the AT bus model was released for home users.

Some models were exported to the United States.[2]

PS/55 Model 5550-T Booting-up

Features

Display Adapter

Display Adapter II

Similar to IBM 5550, the text mode was 1040x725 pixels (12x24 and 24x24 pixel font, 80x25 characters) in 8 colors, can display Japanese characters read from font ROM. Graphics mode was 1024x768 pixels in 16 colors. It was the same resolution as 8514/A or XGA/A, but not compatible. These features were implemented in an MCA card called Display Adapter, and installed in the system unit.

The first Display Adapter was installed on the model 5570-S, also known as the first Micro Channel machine in PS/55, had a compatibility problem with PS/2. From the model 5550-S released in 1988, the Display Adapter II was installed that had been resolved PS/2 compatibility. In the boot sequence, display adapter enabled VGA on the motherboard and the video signal was output through MCA connector and display adapter. When using Japanese DOS, VGA was disabled and display adapter switched the video signal from VGA to own graphics chip. In addition, 256 color mode (1024x768 pixels in 256 of 262,144 colors) was supported.

Most models had compatibility with the Display Adapter II. VGA and following display modes were supported:

Later, XGA and VGA-only models were released. These machines couldn't run Japanese DOS.(required DOS/V)

JIS layout keyboard

5576-002 Keyboard

Following keyboards can be connected to the PS/2 port. These keyboards(except A01) have new scancode set(81h, 82h, 8Ah) supports additional Japanese keys.

Models

Competitors

See also

References

  1. ↑ "マルチステーション、ＰＳ／Ｖ、ＰＳ／２、ＰＳ／５５の一部保守活動中止の発表" [Some model of Multistation, PS/V, PS/2, PS/55 End of Life Announcement] (in Japanese). IBM Japan. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  2. ↑ "IBM　PS／55TMの最上位モデルを発表 - Japan"(September 26, 1988), Retrieved June 7, 2016
  3. ↑ "IBM 20万円を切った低価格DOS／V専用パソコン登場"(May 7, 1991), Retrieved June 2, 2016
  4. ↑ 'ASCII EXPRESS：日本IBMがIBM PS/2互換の80386マシン3機種を発表 英語版OS/2用アプリケーションもすべて動作可能に'.ASCII June 1988, Ascii

Further reading

External links

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