Cebus Capucinis Posted October 24, 2009 Share Posted October 24, 2009 I'm sure this isn't the most popular little guy in this area (since we're usually talking about TI-99/4as and earlier stuff) but I wanted to share a bit of information and some cool little oddities from my PC Jr that I just bought from eBay. I found a PCJr on ePay for a really reasonable price! After winning, I asked about the "tons of additional items" and the seller informed me that his father was the original owner of the computer in 1983 and that it was a floor demonstration model at IBM itself! His dad was a mid-level manager in the sales department and when IBM retired the Jr from production they let him have the sales model to take home. It's been in their house since then but they didn't want to keep it anymore, so they wanted to sell it. Anyway, in talking to the owner, I found out a whole bunch of really interesting things about the software and system. I'll post pictures here of the cool stuff! Here's the unit in boxes. I got the original system boxes and a third mystery box full of ALL SORTS OF AMAZING GOODIES. Here's the box of goodies. Nothing too special, right? Well, inside I found: A large collection of books for the Jr! Not too special? Well, these are printed 'NOT FOR SALE'. I thought that was a bit odd so I fired off a quick e-mail to the seller about it, asking if they were just internal library documents or what. He said that they were NOT FOR SALE because they were editions of the books that were for internal company use only. They were given to the sales department to help with training, as all salespeople had to know how to use the system. But the cool thing is these books have information not released to the public! There are some pages that have some interesting little sales strategies and business ideas that were only seen by members of the sales department. Whoa! NOT FOR SALE software! What could be so special about this? Once again I e-mailed the seller and got a really cool answer back! These were internal company versions of the software packages that were later to be released to the public. They contain everything that the public had access to, but there are also additional demonstration files on the disks that would allow a salesperson to call up a quick set of programming instructions to display little animations and things to show the capabilities of the system. There are programs on here that the public outside the company has NEVER SEEN BEFORE. Here's a little box that had the seller's name on it (blacked out for protection) and 'IBM Corp'. This was his 'individual package' that he used for sales. Each salesperson, once they got their own groove, would make a little blue box with the programs in the order they wanted to use for a sales 'pitch'. Apparently each one was different based on the salesperson's technique. You could just whip out this little box that had samplings of everything you'd need to wow a client! This is one of the coolest things EVER. Prototype cartridge software for Lotus 1-2-3, IBM's spreadsheet program! The stickers had the seller's name on them. These work just like Atari Lab Loaners -- the seller told me the system engineers had yet to complete the software for Lotus 1-2-3 but wanted to generate interest in the program, as it was one of the first spreadsheet programs for PC. They released a "beta" version for the sales demonstrations that didn't have all the features but had enough to show a client the basics of spreadsheet programs. Protos! Awesome! A normal version of BASIC in cart form? Nope! On the back, again, NOT FOR SALE. This was because the cart had pre-compiled BASIC files on it so the sales people could simply call up the routines to make the animation programs and things to show the clients! Yet another thing the public has yet to see. I want to know what cool stuff they had! A Sales Training Diskette! This was exclusive orientation software that was given to new employees to show them the features of the IBM PCJr to sell it. The public also had never seen this before. It had a basic menu in which a new salesperson would just go 1-10 or however to learn the bare minimum selling points. PC Color Printer Demonstration! This was software to, well, you get the picture. This was just something programmed to show how the color printer worked, but once again, it was a program that only IBM had usage internally for and it wasn't something the general public could access. PCJr DOS 2.1 with memory expansion! DOS did not feature these memory expansion capabilities until version 3.0, released almost a year later. This was a prototype version of software as well, also used internally in the company so salespeople could keep ahead of the curve in terms of expansion of the system. This Guide to Operations features, I am told, information on how to use peripherals for the system that were never released. I haven't looked through it yet but the seller said that when IBM pulled the plug on the Jr they had a lot of expansion modules cookin' up on the back burner that they had forwarded the info to the sales department to keep them up to date. That's pretty much it for the really, really cool stuff. There's lots of other items in it that are proprietary in some way, but they're not as nifty. But I did get this one little piece of software that I laughed when I saw: Zyll, a Text Adventure Game! I think most of us have seen that picture somewhere before...hmmm, where oh where.... Unfortunately the system does not function currently. We are thinking it got damaged due to vibrations in shipping and have made a claim with UPS to see if we can get recompense for it. Due to this fact I still don't have a PC Jr to try these things out on! I am currently working with the administrator of vintage-computers.com, who is an IBM repair technician, to try to get the board fixed. I might be sending it to him so hopefully I'll have this sales demo computer working in a couple weeks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted October 24, 2009 Share Posted October 24, 2009 You very luckey to get the joystick! Those were hard to find even back in the day! Good luck wuth the Jr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 24, 2009 Author Share Posted October 24, 2009 Well, we've discerned that the problem is with the motherboard, there's probably more than just a corroded trace on it. I don't have an oscilloscope, which apparently is VITAL for fixing these things. But the admin on vintage-computers.com said he would trade me a working one for the bad one so he could fix it for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 That's certainly a nice batch of goodies you have there. I was quite impressed by the amount of CIB programs you have in that box let alone all of the sales/company materials. Besides Zyll, what are the other programs you have? Could you possibly take pictures of them as well? And here I thought I had a nice selection of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 That's certainly a nice batch of goodies you have there. I was quite impressed by the amount of CIB programs you have in that box let alone all of the sales/company materials. Besides Zyll, what are the other programs you have? Could you possibly take pictures of them as well? And here I thought I had a nice selection of them. Sure! I actually already have pictures of them, I just didn't post them because they weren't as "special". Am still tinkering with the Jr in an attempt to get it to work. Hopefully I can get it going by tomorrow! We made some diagnostic breakthroughs on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 Here are the pictures for the CIB software I got: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 ^^^ Very interesting. I've never seen a lot of those. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 I can get you complete box pictures if you'd like. I just snapped these real quick to inventory what I'd won in the auction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Hmm... where have I seen that picture before? Wow! I thought I was the only PCjr collector here. My friends dad worked for IBM when we were kids so he had one (I had an Apple IIe at the time). We used to play Kings Quest (with that odd background sound), Zyll, Jumpman, Mineshaft, Trivia, and even Animation Creation all the time. Yes it was a crappy crippled PC, but we didn't know that at the time so it seemed godly to us. I have a decent collection of PCjr games/apps. I only collect the ones that came in those plastic cases, and I'm missing several still. I also have a almost complete collection of carts (not that there are that many). I'm only missing Microsurgeon assuming that it was released (I've only seen a prototype of it). You can see my boxed games in this picture (upper left): http://www.atariprotos.com/temp/gameroom7.jpg BTW check out my Zyll page sometime: http://www.atariprotos.com/other/zyll/zyll.htm Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monzamess Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I truly believe I had Microsurgeon and Demon Attack on cart for the PCjr "back in the day," and that I got them from one of those closeout distributors that advertised in Computer Shopper (the BEST MAGAZINE EVAR in the 80s when it was in "phone book" format). Both looked like full official releases, just came too late in the PCjr's short life. PCjr was my first real computer (sorry Timex/Sinclair 1000, my first "computer"). I never got into collecting stuff for it, but I still have one with a few carts and accessories--but not my "original." My dad bought that one for $100 at a tent sale just after they were discontinued. I had it for a couple of years and sold it + some accessories for $600--so I could buy an Atari 520STfm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I can get you complete box pictures if you'd like. I just snapped these real quick to inventory what I'd won in the auction. Actually that would be a good idea for documentary purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 The only game that I'm truly interested in still acquiring for my PCjr collection is the Imagic baseball game that was advertised back in the late 1984 timeframe (maybe early 1985), but I haven't been able to get confirmation that it was actually ever released. It looked very, very nice though judging by the screenshot in the ad, though it could have just been an artist's rendering or a very early production version that never got completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 I'll take the complete pictures in higher res for you sometime this week, kur, by Sunday at the latest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 So finally after figuring out all sorts of diagnostics and not knowing what the heck I was doing, I have managed to score another PCJr! This one is guaranteed working and has been tested prior to it shipping! Huzzah! I won't go into too many details, but it's from a now-defunct computer club that wants to see their inventory go to a good home. I am "trading" them my non-working one plus a very, very reasonable adoption fee and getting a great condition working Jr again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icbrkr Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 BTW, if you ever get an extra power supply, I lay claim to it! I've had a jr. sitting in the closet with some sort of expansion card that I've never tested. I originally got it without the keyboard, but over the years, I managed to get that too. The recently, SteveW gave me some software.. so now I just need a ps to fire it up with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 Extra power supplies shouldn't be that hard to come by if you troll eBay. I've gotten a few from there over the past few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthkur Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 So finally after figuring out all sorts of diagnostics and not knowing what the heck I was doing, I have managed to score another PCJr! This one is guaranteed working and has been tested prior to it shipping! Huzzah! I won't go into too many details, but it's from a now-defunct computer club that wants to see their inventory go to a good home. I am "trading" them my non-working one plus a very, very reasonable adoption fee and getting a great condition working Jr again! If "they" are out west and have a shed full of the stuff then that's the same place I got mine from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 So finally after figuring out all sorts of diagnostics and not knowing what the heck I was doing, I have managed to score another PCJr! This one is guaranteed working and has been tested prior to it shipping! Huzzah! I won't go into too many details, but it's from a now-defunct computer club that wants to see their inventory go to a good home. I am "trading" them my non-working one plus a very, very reasonable adoption fee and getting a great condition working Jr again! If "they" are out west and have a shed full of the stuff then that's the same place I got mine from. "They" certainly are! I'm really sad to actually have just barely met "them" right when they were closing up shop. But then again when you're 77 years old, I can understand it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted November 15, 2009 Author Share Posted November 15, 2009 Apologies for the double post, but I wanted to give everyone an update on some of the proprietary stuff I got with this system. I have a working Jr now thanks to a certain group mentioned above, and I tested out some of the software. Some of the disks no longer work, obviously due to age.... But one of the most frustrating collector-ism things I have is that the "PCJr Sales Training Diskette"....contains a copy....of POLICE QUEST now. Woohoo for Police Quest, I guess, but apparently someone formatted the disk and copied PQ1 on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Be careful with those disks that you think don't work--they might. One of my Jr's can read King's Quest just fine, while another gives me an error after boot up. I can only chalk it up to a drive in one that's possibly slightly out of alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Thanks for sharing all that jr stuff. Very nice collection. I don't know that I've ever even seen a boxed jr game. Nice. I have a working jr with monitor, parallel port card and all, but haven't set it up in awhile. Don't have any software or extras though. Mine was actually the one pictured on old-computers.com for many many years (probably is still there, but site appears to be down now). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seob Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Nice collection. The oldest pc i have is a Philips :yes, with a 80186 processor. Only a few computers used a 80186 so it makes it a rare one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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