Found 2 old computers: What is this?

So, my parents are moving out of our old house to a smaller place and are getting rid of a ton of stuff, hidden away we found two old computers.
One of them is an IBM PC jr.
The other is a "Tandem 100s series" according to the logo on the front. According to wikipedia Tandem "was the dominant manufacturer of fault-tolerant computer systems for ATM networks, banks, stock exchanges, telephone switching centers, and other similar commercial transaction processing applications requiring maximum uptime and zero data loss"
which makes sense, because I know we got it from a friend who worked at NASDAQ.
But I can't find any more information about it, there are no results anywhere on the internet for this specific model which appears to be "PSX 100/140s" according to the rear sticker

We also found the original monitors (are they worth keeping?)

I was hoping you guys could tell me some more about the Tandem, and whether or not this might be the only surviving one left

The case looks pretty much like a bunch of early PC clones - it might be more informative to take a look inside and see what's there.

I believe the PSX100 was an AT clone.... you could verify that quite readily by taking the cover off it. (and grab some windex while at it :D)

If the monitors are pre-vga and the systems are pre-vga, you're best off keeping the monitors with them... even monochrome TTL displays are getting harder to find at reasonable prices, much less decent EGA or CGA displays. We'd probably have to know more about the displays in question to weigh in.

If you can post up some pictures of the displays, their connectors, and a shot of the system internals and what cards are inside them, we could probably better dial in exactly what it is you have there. For the most part though, looks like a generic IBM AT clone... though it could be an XT in an AT style case; but I'm pretty sure the tandem PSX-100 is an AT, actually manufactured by AST.... the later 140 I think was a 386SX, but don't quote me on that.

well it certainly has AST written all over almost every part

some monitor pictures
I assume we used this one with the Tandem computer



and this one is the original pcjr monitor

processor is 16mhz 80386
way faster than the pc jr

so, the unisys monitor is old vga, and the pc jr monitor uses a special cable just for the pc jr computer. but it's CGA

Are you gonna turn them on?

I let the unisys monitor go since there didnt seem to be anything special about it
the pc jr monitor seems to work, but it makes some pretty loud noise when turned on so I turned it off quickly. When I have time I'll take a look inside and check everything out before turning it on again
I was unable to find the power cord for the pc jr system and after doing a bit of research it's not just a normal cord; there's some more external hardware attached. So I'm going to have to find a replacement somewhere.

got a question about the Tandem computer, though.
the rear of the system has two power inputs for the power supply, a male and a female
I assume it's for convenience and I can plug into either one? but I'm not sure

That a old style power supply with a monitor power passthru. Some monitors came with a male power cable attached to hook to the power supply.
I still just recommend using a standard power cord on them.

Later,
dabone

RandomGuy said:

got a question about the Tandem computer, though.
the rear of the system has two power inputs for the power supply, a male and a female
I assume it's for convenience and I can plug into either one? but I'm not sure

Click to expand...

The male socket is for the power supply; the female socket is to plug the monitor into. Some (generally monochrome and small) monitors don't have plugs that go to a wall socket but instead plug into the computer's power supply. Only plug a low power consuming monitor into the computer's power supply and only if you have to; super VGA CRT monitors tend to be too much.