IBM PS/2 Model 9577 - BNB Retro Gamer W/Win98SE & CD/DVD Burner. MCA Desktop.
Item History & Price
(Scroll down for important info about ...)About the SellerPackaging: Packaged with Skill and CareWarrantiesUpgrades?Local Pickup is Free!Don't touch that Bid button yet!!!Questions? Just ask!IBM 9577-BNBPre-Loaded with Win98SE
Key Hardware Features
CD/DVD Burner (no bezel) i80486DX-33/66 CPU 32 megabytes of RAM S3 928 VESA Local Bus graphics accelerator chipset providing 800x600, 16k (high color) video, one of the best legacy vide...o gamer experiences. SCSI hard drive controller HDD size upgrade to 400mb via IBM SCSI HDD Model 0661-467 3Com 3C529 Ethernet adapter IBM T/R LAN adapter, making it an excellent network bridge machine. 2.88 ED ("Extended Density") 3.5" FDD Two serial and one parallel port Free system BIOS flash upgraded to the latest (Rev 8).
Cosmetic Condition: The case cleaned up nicely, and I keep working on removing stains and sticky residue right up until I have to ship!
Note: CD/DVD burner door sometimes requires a couple of tries to open ...
Comparative Value: Well! Glad you asked. Not long ago a recent PS/2 desktop (8590) sold in a similar category on eBay for $650. No CD-ROM! No OS, let alone an installed and working copy of Win98SE. That one only booted to a 174 error code because the seller didn't have time to replace the battery ...
"As Is????" Why on earth would you ever want to buy one of these "As Is"? That just means "broken" and "your headache to fix all by your lonesome". I understand why over 90 percent of the sellers sell them this way or in pieces. It can be hard just to have all the right pieces, but to get them all working together is an order of magnitude higher level of difficulty. That's why you won't see "as is" as a feature of any items I regularly auction.
Far more than just a collector's dream come true, this desktop can do everything it ever did. Add a 2nd hard drive and you can boot and run DOS, Linux, BeOS, AIX, Win95/98/98SE, OS/2, FreeBSD, NetBSD, SCO OpenServer, SCO UnixWare, Solaris x86, and a host of other operating systems where you can run word processors, spreadsheets, paint programs, legacy games and more.
Includes power cord. No monitor. Any locks pictured have no keys and are not functional. No keyboard or mouse, and as with all non-free upgrades, these would have to be auctioned separately.
About the Seller: Hi, I'm Charles "Lasitter" from Ludlow, Massachusetts, and I'm the only one by that name in the state. I hope to be working with you from beginning to end to insure your happiness with this transaction. Please also check my seller "FAQ" -> Other (under my seller profile) for other important questions that I've tried to answer in advance.
If you're a vintage computer collector, you're probably believe, as I do, that these MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) computers were revolutionary in their time, can still do useful work today, and are some of the best engineered computers that IBM ever made. And they were also the first computers where "plug and play" actually worked!
I've owned this desktop (and others) for nearly 30 years, and they have travelled with me for thousands of miles. My mission has been to find a home for them so as to keep them from an ignominious scrap heap.
A Story from Real Life: A seller's feedback score is important, but it's just one indicator of what your sales experience might be like with a given seller. "No problem" sales are great, of course, but I recently had a system sale with scarfacetrujillo (Gustavo Moreno, Barceloneta, Puerto Rico) that went almost perfectly, and he has allowed me to share his sales experience with you:
What went wrong? "The system was supposed to ship with 16mb RAM and a single, smaller capacity HDD with the OS loaded. Just before shipping, "lasitter" discovered that the hard drive had failed, and in order to speed the shipping process, he made up for the SNAFU with the OS on CD-ROM, double the RAM, twice as many HDD with 3x the original storage capacity. Wow!"
And the condition of the system? "I've received some systems trashed so badly in shipment that I had to be issued a full refund. But this time? The system description was accurate and the packaging was second to none -- top notch!!!! Everything came in perfect!!! All running smoothly. Thank you for such a pleasant transaction and all the extra goodies you included." (I love including free extra goodies!)
Local pickup is Free!
Live in the northeast? You may be closer than you realize: Driving from Connecticut? Ludlow's just 40 minutes from Hartford, and 75 minutes from New Haven. It's just 65 minutes from southern Vermont (Brattleboro), and under 90 minutes from Boston and Albany. And local pickup has obvious benefits:
What you save on shipping can buy a lot of gas! (Or other great stuff!) Hate waiting? Get it now, on your schedule. Use your visit to see one of the largest IBM PS/2 MicroChannel Computer (MCA) collections in the USA! Why wonder if it ever really worked? See it working first, and use your eBay app to make an offer on the spot! Qualified visitors can get free stuff just for making the trip!
And if you're not close enough to visit, you can always take advantage of standard shipping ...
Shipping and Handling: Ships UPS Ground. Ask about store purchases for upgrades that you might like to see shipped / configured with this system. eBay does not allow for changes in shipping weight after the completion of an auction, so something like another HDD, purchased thru my store, would add to the weight, but would be much less than if shipped separately. As configured shipping weight approximately 38 pounds. About the "handling" fee. The big double wall box alone is $10 dollars, and that's just for starters ...
Packaged with Skill and Care: Getting one of these computers to you in anything like working condition is a tall order. Shipping companies treat a sack of potatoes with more respect. Unlike legacy Apple and Mac computers which are largely plastic, these IBM computers are mostly steel, and therefore heavy.
And while much of the case and frame is steel, the fronts are covered with plastic bezels for things like the FDD and grills for venting, and these things do not stand up to much abuse. Solution? Expensive, specially sized-to-fit, double wall boxes, along with custom cut-to-fit semi-rigid foam to absorb shocks, along with anti-stat void fill. The carton is well sealed with heavy duty carton sealing staples, so you'll need to have your pliers ready!
All this effort gives us a better than average chance that this vintage desktop reaches you in working condition, or with minor issues which we can work together to resolve via telephone / remotely. Bezels are my responsibility entirely. If one breaks, I'll pay the return shipping as well as replace the part.
Warranties and exclusions: You have seven days to test the system after arrival and notify me of defects. Before shipping, this computer will have passed a slew of diagnostic tests provided by IBM. And that's a lot! Most sellers just press the power button and call it a day if the green light comes on. They have no idea what a "wrap plug" is, or that if you want to thoroughly test the serial and parallel ports, you've got to have them. They don't have 2.88 media, so they can't test the FDD properly. I could go on, but this desktop is not "as-is". If you want to ship it all back in original condition, returns are accepted.
Included software comes without warranty: You are responsible for knowing how to configure the operating system. All software is provided "for demonstration purposes" only, without original CD, diskettes or certificate of authenticity. Some would say Win98SE on a DX2/66 is impossible, but three minutes and 30 seconds after the POST "beep" you eventually hit the login prompt, where you are "Thomas A Anderson" working for (WORKGROUP) "MetaCortex" and the machine is the "Matrix". The password is "password". Escape the Matrix if you can! All the Win98SE install .CAB files are in the "SETUP" directory if you wish to modify the OS installation.
Want it Faster? This system can easily accept a number of upgrades you might have on your shelf, and if not you can get them in a special auction just for you. The 486ODPR100 is an obvious win, as well as a 83mhz Pentium Overdrive, and L2 cache modules certainly pick up the pace. A 2nd HDD also boosts speed. And that's just for starters!
Don't touch that Bid button yet!!! If you've never seen the inside of a computer before, this auction might not be for you. You need some combination of experience, help, and sense of adventure when you first start working with computers that my be older than you are!
Not Enough Info? If I've failed to give you the information you need, you can "contact the seller" and text your questions to me. Something like: Contact the Seller -> Topics -> Other -> How to call the seller. Just keep in mind that I'm in the Eastern Time Zone (GMT/UTC -4) so it may be a while before I get back to you.
Grand Prize: (RIP) I'm in my mid-60s and know I won't live forever -- or even long enough to sell off all my collection of PS/2 computers. So I'm taking names of PS/2 enthusiasts in the USA with large basements that might wish to inherit this collection. My interest is in seeing the collection go to someone that loves this stuff vs someone that only wants it for scrap gold or to part it out. My estate might even be in a position to split the cost of an intermodal container to some distant part of the globe.
Auction copy copyright © Charles Lasitter, Ludlow, MA, USA, 2020
Last updated 8.12.2020
Key Hardware Features
CD/DVD Burner (no bezel) i80486DX-33/66 CPU 32 megabytes of RAM S3 928 VESA Local Bus graphics accelerator chipset providing 800x600, 16k (high color) video, one of the best legacy vide...o gamer experiences. SCSI hard drive controller HDD size upgrade to 400mb via IBM SCSI HDD Model 0661-467 3Com 3C529 Ethernet adapter IBM T/R LAN adapter, making it an excellent network bridge machine. 2.88 ED ("Extended Density") 3.5" FDD Two serial and one parallel port Free system BIOS flash upgraded to the latest (Rev 8).
Cosmetic Condition: The case cleaned up nicely, and I keep working on removing stains and sticky residue right up until I have to ship!
Note: CD/DVD burner door sometimes requires a couple of tries to open ...
Comparative Value: Well! Glad you asked. Not long ago a recent PS/2 desktop (8590) sold in a similar category on eBay for $650. No CD-ROM! No OS, let alone an installed and working copy of Win98SE. That one only booted to a 174 error code because the seller didn't have time to replace the battery ...
"As Is????" Why on earth would you ever want to buy one of these "As Is"? That just means "broken" and "your headache to fix all by your lonesome". I understand why over 90 percent of the sellers sell them this way or in pieces. It can be hard just to have all the right pieces, but to get them all working together is an order of magnitude higher level of difficulty. That's why you won't see "as is" as a feature of any items I regularly auction.
Far more than just a collector's dream come true, this desktop can do everything it ever did. Add a 2nd hard drive and you can boot and run DOS, Linux, BeOS, AIX, Win95/98/98SE, OS/2, FreeBSD, NetBSD, SCO OpenServer, SCO UnixWare, Solaris x86, and a host of other operating systems where you can run word processors, spreadsheets, paint programs, legacy games and more.
Includes power cord. No monitor. Any locks pictured have no keys and are not functional. No keyboard or mouse, and as with all non-free upgrades, these would have to be auctioned separately.
About the Seller: Hi, I'm Charles "Lasitter" from Ludlow, Massachusetts, and I'm the only one by that name in the state. I hope to be working with you from beginning to end to insure your happiness with this transaction. Please also check my seller "FAQ" -> Other (under my seller profile) for other important questions that I've tried to answer in advance.
If you're a vintage computer collector, you're probably believe, as I do, that these MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) computers were revolutionary in their time, can still do useful work today, and are some of the best engineered computers that IBM ever made. And they were also the first computers where "plug and play" actually worked!
I've owned this desktop (and others) for nearly 30 years, and they have travelled with me for thousands of miles. My mission has been to find a home for them so as to keep them from an ignominious scrap heap.
A Story from Real Life: A seller's feedback score is important, but it's just one indicator of what your sales experience might be like with a given seller. "No problem" sales are great, of course, but I recently had a system sale with scarfacetrujillo (Gustavo Moreno, Barceloneta, Puerto Rico) that went almost perfectly, and he has allowed me to share his sales experience with you:
What went wrong? "The system was supposed to ship with 16mb RAM and a single, smaller capacity HDD with the OS loaded. Just before shipping, "lasitter" discovered that the hard drive had failed, and in order to speed the shipping process, he made up for the SNAFU with the OS on CD-ROM, double the RAM, twice as many HDD with 3x the original storage capacity. Wow!"
And the condition of the system? "I've received some systems trashed so badly in shipment that I had to be issued a full refund. But this time? The system description was accurate and the packaging was second to none -- top notch!!!! Everything came in perfect!!! All running smoothly. Thank you for such a pleasant transaction and all the extra goodies you included." (I love including free extra goodies!)
Local pickup is Free!
Live in the northeast? You may be closer than you realize: Driving from Connecticut? Ludlow's just 40 minutes from Hartford, and 75 minutes from New Haven. It's just 65 minutes from southern Vermont (Brattleboro), and under 90 minutes from Boston and Albany. And local pickup has obvious benefits:
What you save on shipping can buy a lot of gas! (Or other great stuff!) Hate waiting? Get it now, on your schedule. Use your visit to see one of the largest IBM PS/2 MicroChannel Computer (MCA) collections in the USA! Why wonder if it ever really worked? See it working first, and use your eBay app to make an offer on the spot! Qualified visitors can get free stuff just for making the trip!
And if you're not close enough to visit, you can always take advantage of standard shipping ...
Shipping and Handling: Ships UPS Ground. Ask about store purchases for upgrades that you might like to see shipped / configured with this system. eBay does not allow for changes in shipping weight after the completion of an auction, so something like another HDD, purchased thru my store, would add to the weight, but would be much less than if shipped separately. As configured shipping weight approximately 38 pounds. About the "handling" fee. The big double wall box alone is $10 dollars, and that's just for starters ...
Packaged with Skill and Care: Getting one of these computers to you in anything like working condition is a tall order. Shipping companies treat a sack of potatoes with more respect. Unlike legacy Apple and Mac computers which are largely plastic, these IBM computers are mostly steel, and therefore heavy.
And while much of the case and frame is steel, the fronts are covered with plastic bezels for things like the FDD and grills for venting, and these things do not stand up to much abuse. Solution? Expensive, specially sized-to-fit, double wall boxes, along with custom cut-to-fit semi-rigid foam to absorb shocks, along with anti-stat void fill. The carton is well sealed with heavy duty carton sealing staples, so you'll need to have your pliers ready!
All this effort gives us a better than average chance that this vintage desktop reaches you in working condition, or with minor issues which we can work together to resolve via telephone / remotely. Bezels are my responsibility entirely. If one breaks, I'll pay the return shipping as well as replace the part.
Warranties and exclusions: You have seven days to test the system after arrival and notify me of defects. Before shipping, this computer will have passed a slew of diagnostic tests provided by IBM. And that's a lot! Most sellers just press the power button and call it a day if the green light comes on. They have no idea what a "wrap plug" is, or that if you want to thoroughly test the serial and parallel ports, you've got to have them. They don't have 2.88 media, so they can't test the FDD properly. I could go on, but this desktop is not "as-is". If you want to ship it all back in original condition, returns are accepted.
Included software comes without warranty: You are responsible for knowing how to configure the operating system. All software is provided "for demonstration purposes" only, without original CD, diskettes or certificate of authenticity. Some would say Win98SE on a DX2/66 is impossible, but three minutes and 30 seconds after the POST "beep" you eventually hit the login prompt, where you are "Thomas A Anderson" working for (WORKGROUP) "MetaCortex" and the machine is the "Matrix". The password is "password". Escape the Matrix if you can! All the Win98SE install .CAB files are in the "SETUP" directory if you wish to modify the OS installation.
Want it Faster? This system can easily accept a number of upgrades you might have on your shelf, and if not you can get them in a special auction just for you. The 486ODPR100 is an obvious win, as well as a 83mhz Pentium Overdrive, and L2 cache modules certainly pick up the pace. A 2nd HDD also boosts speed. And that's just for starters!
Don't touch that Bid button yet!!! If you've never seen the inside of a computer before, this auction might not be for you. You need some combination of experience, help, and sense of adventure when you first start working with computers that my be older than you are!
Not Enough Info? If I've failed to give you the information you need, you can "contact the seller" and text your questions to me. Something like: Contact the Seller -> Topics -> Other -> How to call the seller. Just keep in mind that I'm in the Eastern Time Zone (GMT/UTC -4) so it may be a while before I get back to you.
Grand Prize: (RIP) I'm in my mid-60s and know I won't live forever -- or even long enough to sell off all my collection of PS/2 computers. So I'm taking names of PS/2 enthusiasts in the USA with large basements that might wish to inherit this collection. My interest is in seeing the collection go to someone that loves this stuff vs someone that only wants it for scrap gold or to part it out. My estate might even be in a position to split the cost of an intermodal container to some distant part of the globe.
Auction copy copyright © Charles Lasitter, Ludlow, MA, USA, 2020
Last updated 8.12.2020
