IBM PS/55

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

Personal System/55
PS/55 Model 5550-T
Also known asパーソナルシステム/55
DeveloperIBM
ManufacturerIBM Fujisawa (PS/2 line),
Matsushita Electric Industrial (5550 line)
TypeProfessional Computer
Release date1987 (1987)
Discontinued2001[1]
Operating systemJapanese DOS (K3.3 - J5.0)
PC DOS (3.3 -)
DOS/V
OS/2
Windows 3.x
PredecessorIBM 5550
IBM JX

The PS/55 is the successor to IBM 5550 (Multistation 5550), but its architecture is based upon IBM PS/2. The first line-up of the series consisted of rebranded 5550 models except the Model 5570-S which was based on the PS/2 Model 80 (IBM 8580). Unlike the PS/2, most PS/2-based models have a 32-bit (80386 or 80486) CPU and Micro Channel (MCA) bus for the high-end business computing market. IBM Japan was hesitating to sell personal computers for consumers because the IBM JX failed.[2] The AT bus model was released for home users in 1991.

Features

Display Adapter
Display Adapter II

The MCA video card called Display Adapter has a Japanese font containing nearly 7,000 glyphs stored in its ROM, which enables PS/2-based computers to display Japanese text without loading the font into memory. Similar to the IBM 5550, the display resolution in character mode is 1040×725 pixels (12×24 and 24×24 pixel Mincho font, 80×25 text) in 8 colors. The graphics mode is 1024×768 pixels in 16 colors. This is the same resolution as 8514/A and XGA/A, but not compatible.

The first Display Adapter was installed in the model 5570-S, also known as the first Micro Channel machine of PS/55. It had a compatibility problem with PS/2 applications. Since the model 5550-S released in 1988, the Display Adapter II that improved the PS/2 compatibility was introduced. In the boot sequence, the Display Adapter enables VGA on the motherboard, and it passes the video signal from the motherboard to adapter's VGA connector. When using Japanese DOS, VGA is disabled, and the Display Adapter switches its video selector from VGA to own video chip. In addition, it added the 256 color mode (1024×768 pixels in 256 colors chosen from 262,144 colors). The adapter has 1 MB of video RAM, and 256 KB of RAM for user-defined characters.[3]

Most PS/2-based models have compatibility with the Display Adapter II. VGA and the following display modes are supported:

  • 1040×725 pixels with 80×25 characters in 8 colors or monochrome
  • 1024×768 pixels graphics in 16 colors or monochrome
  • 1024×768 pixels graphics in 256 of 262,144 colors

Later, XGA and VGA-only models were released. These later machines cannot run the special Japanese DOS, instead requiring the use of DOS/V with software-rendered kanji.

JIS layout keyboard
5576-002 Keyboard

The following keyboards have the PS/2 port. These keyboards have new scancode sets (81h, 82h, 8Ah) to support additional keys for Japanese input method.

Models
Internal view of Model 5550-T
  • Tower
    • 5570-S, T, V (Early tower model. 5570-S, the first model of PS/55, doesn't support English versions of PC DOS and OS/2[5])
    • 5580-Y, W (Late tower model)
  • Business Desktop (Predecessor to IBM PC 300/700 series)
    • 5560-W, N （Hi-end desktop）
    • 5550-S, T, V, W, N, Y, L, R （Mainstream desktop）
    • 5540-T （Low-end desktop）
  • For small business, home users
    • 5530-Z, S, T, U, W (Desktop with integrated a display, Predecessor to PS/V Vision)
    • 5510-Z, S, T (VGA model. Predecessor to PS/V)
  • Laptop
  • A4 Notebook
  • Rebranded IBM 5550
    • Model G to P (1987-1991)
Year Name Model CPU Bus Graphics Case
1987 PS/55 5570-S Intel 80386DX 16MHz MCA D/A Tower
1988 PS/55 5550-S Intel 80386DX 16MHz MCA D/A Desktop
1988 PS/55 5550-T Intel 80386DX 20MHz MCA D/A Desktop
1988 PS/55 5570-T Intel 80386DX 20MHz MCA D/A Tower
1989 PS/55 5550-V Intel 80386DX 25MHz MCA D/A Desktop
1989 PS/55 5570-V Intel 80386DX 25MHz MCA D/A Tower
1989 PS/55 5530-T Intel 80386DX 20MHz MCA D/A Desktop with integrated display
1989 PS/55Z 5530Z SX Intel 80386SX 20MHz MCA D/A Desktop with integrated display
1990 PS/55 5535-S Intel 80386SX 16MHz MCA VGA Laptop
1990 PS/55 5540-T Intel 80386SX 20MHz MCA D/A Desktop
1990 PS/55 5545-T Intel 80386DX 20MHz MCA D/A Integrated Plasma Display
1990 PS/55 5560-W Intel 80486 25MHz MCA D/A Desktop
1990 PS/55 5580-Y Intel 80486 33MHz MCA D/A Tower
1991 PS/55Z 5510S Intel 80386SX 16MHz AT VGA Desktop
1991 PS/55Z 5510T Intel 80386DX 20MHz MCA VGA Desktop
1991 PS/55Z 5510Z Intel 80286 12MHz AT VGA Desktop
1991 PS/55note 5523S Intel 80386SX 12MHz AT VGA Notebook
1991 PS/55 5530-U Intel 80386SX 20MHz MCA XGA Desktop with integrated display
1991 PS/55 5530-V IBM 386SLC 20MHz MCA D/A Desktop with integrated display
1991 PS/55 5560-W Intel 486SX 25MHz MCA D/A Desktop
1991 PS/55 5580-W Intel 486SX 25MHz MCA D/A Tower
1992 PS/55 5551-W Intel 486SX 20MHz MCA XGA Desktop
1992 PS/55Z 5530-U IBM 386SLC 20MHz MCA XGA Desktop with integrated display
1992 PS/55 5530-W Intel 486SX 20MHz MCA XGA Desktop with integrated display
1992 PS/55 5560-N Intel 486DX2 66MHz MCA XGA Desktop
1992 PS/55note 9552-Y IBM 486SLC 25MHz MCA VGA Notebook
1992 PS/55 95 XP 486 Intel 486DX 50MHz MCA XGA Tower
1993 PS/55 5521-Y Intel 486SX 33MHz MCA D/A / SVGA Desktop
1993 PS/55 5551-L IBM 486DLC2 66MHz MCA D/A / XGA Desktop
1993 PS/55 5551-N Intel 486DX2 66MHz MCA D/A / XGA Desktop
1993 PS/55 5551-Y Intel 486SX 33MHz MCA D/A / XGA Desktop
1993 PS/55 Server 95 Intel Pentium 66MHz MCA XGA Tower
1994 PS/55 5530-L IBM 486DLC2 66MHz MCA D/A / XGA Desktop with integrated display
1994 PS/55 5551-R Intel 486DX2 66MHz MCA D/A / XGA Desktop

Competitors

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to IBM PS/55.

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. 19 November 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  2. 戸塚, 正康 (1991). "PS/2とPS/55が誕生". 日本IBMのパソコン新戦略 (in Japanese). 日本工業新聞社. pp. 111–113. ISBN 4-8191-0856-5.
  3. "特集 最新機種レポート'88 : PS/2互換の日本語マシン 日本アイ・ビー・エム IBM パーソナルシステム/55 モデル5550-S/T モデル5570-T". ASCII (in Japanese). ASCII Corporation. 12 (7): 158–163. 1988. ISSN 0386-5428.
  4. "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
  5. "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 (in Japanese). ASCII Corporation. 12 (6). 1988. ISSN 0386-5428.
  6. "PS/55 5535S (5535-S04)". www.mars.dti.ne.jp. Retrieved 2021-04-28.

Further reading
  • IBM Japan (1990). IBM PS/55ハードウェア モデル5550-S/T/V技術解説書 [IBM PS/55 Hardware:Model 5550-S/T/V Technical Reference]. Ohmsha. ISBN 4274076245.
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