IBM PCjr questions

[+eebuckeye]

I know it was not popular but I had to get one to add to my collection. :-) it has three sidecars and reports 256MB memory so I assume on of them is a memory expansion.

 

Why would a sidecard have its own power brick? What is this expansion? Another expansion has dip switches and I'm not sure what it is.

 

I thought IBM PCjr basic was on cartridge only? I power on the system without a disk and any cartridges installed and it went to basic.

 

Thanks!

Edited November 22, 2014 by eebuckeye

[The Usotsuki]

There's a nerfed BASIC in ROM, version C1.2.

 

If you try to access it from DOS, it'll say "Cartridge Required" and hang the system. You might, though, be able to use GW-BASIC if you install a memory driver.

Edited November 22, 2014 by The Usotsuki

[Tempest]

That's the power sidecar. It's for if you had 3 or more sidecars and needed the extra power. You don't generally need it.

 

as usotsuki said, that's a stripped down basic that's in rom called cassette basic. It's pretty worthless.

 

If you're serious about using your PCjr look into getting a JrIDE. It adds 720K memory, a clock chip, and let's you use a hard drive. There's more info on the PCjr forums (just do a google search for it).

 

Doing a Tandy mod would also be advisable, but that's more involved.

[monzamess]

PCjr was shipped with power supplies of two different capacities. The power sidecar is more important to those with the smaller one.

 

See http://www.brutman.com/PCjr/pcjr.html

[Tempest]

PCjr was shipped with power supplies of two different capacities. The power sidecar is more important to those with the smaller one.

 

See http://www.brutman.com/PCjr/pcjr.html

That's true, but it only really matters if you're running more than a few sidecars. With the JrIDE there's really no reason to do so anymore. I run my PCjr with a JrIDE and Parallel Port Sidecar (for a 3.5" drive) and I believe I have the smaller power supply. I've had no issues.

 

BTW Mike's PCjr pages are the absolute best PCjr resource on the net.

[82-T/A]

I had one of these that I bought at a Garage sale... it was totally complete in the box (128k version w/ floppy). It had a BUNCH of games that came with it too. The boxes for the games were very similar to what the Sega Saturn games came in.

 

Honestly... really well packaged, very high quality. I was able to load a very old / almost unusable version of DOS... like 2.X on it... never had enough memory to play anything other than cart games.

 

Mine also loaded into basic if I didn't put anything in the floppy drive. It also had the revised keyboard, not the Chiclet one.

[+eebuckeye]

So the power sidecar has no other function, correct?

 

what is the sidecar with the dip switches? I assume the other is a printer sidecar. I did not find a description of all the available sidecars on Mike's IBM PCjr site (I could have missed it).

[Tempest]

I forget which one that is. If you take it off (pop off the plastic plate) it should say which one it is.

 

Yes the other one it the Parallel Port sidecar. Useful for a whole bunch of things like printers, external floppy drives, zip drives, etc.

[+eebuckeye]

Thanks.. Does anyone have the email of the person to purchase the IDE interface? I sent a note to Mike the other day about joining the forums but my email likely went into his spam.

[Tempest]

Thanks.. Does anyone have the email of the person to purchase the IDE interface? I sent a note to Mike the other day about joining the forums but my email likely went into his spam.

It takes time.

 

Here you go: https://www.retrotronics.org/home-page/jride/

[Seob]

it has three sidecars and reports 256MB memory so I assume on of them is a memory expansion.

 

Guess you mean 256Kb. A pcjr had 128kb memory standard. So one of the sidecars would be a 128kb expension.

[Tempest]

Guess you mean 256Kb. A pcjr had 128kb memory standard. So one of the sidecars would be a 128kb expension.

Yeah the standard memory sidecar was 128K but most people hacked theirs for 512K to get 640K total. The JrIDE plus a special BIOS patch allows the PCjr to have 768K

[+eebuckeye]

Yep.. I meant 256kb.. not MB.. :-)

 

The JR-IDE comes with 768K I think? I just ordered one! Now I have to figure out how to use it and what drive to use... IDE to CF work good?

[Tempest]

Yes the JrIDE will give you 764K, but you need to use a special BIOS to get the PCjr to recognize anything past 256K. It's available on that site.

 

I use an old fashioned hard drive enclosure with mine, but I've been told you can use solid state devices with it. There's more info on that in the forums in the hardware section.

[The Usotsuki]

It'll actually only recognize 128K unless you install a driver in config.sys.

[Great Hierophant]

The sidecar with the dipswitches is the memory expansion. You can add four sidecars this way, or remove the 64K chips and replace them with 256K chips and only need one sidecar. With a jrIDE, you pretty much are all set. A parallel port sidecar adds a fair amount of additional value. I also have an IBM PCjr. Speech Adapter sidecar, which did not see a lot of support. My PCjr. has the stronger internal power supply, so I do not use a Power Expansion Sidecar.

[Tempest]

Did anything other than that one educational title (Bouncy Bee Letters or whatever it was called) use the Speech Adapter? What speech chip did it use?

 

EDIT: Found it. It was called Bouncy Bee Learns Letters. That's some nice sounding speech, it must be similar to the TI speech chip.

 

[Great Hierophant]

Did anything other than that one educational title (Bouncy Bee Letters or whatever it was called) use the Speech Adapter? What speech chip did it use?

 

EDIT: Found it. It was called Bouncy Bee Learns Letters. That's some nice sounding speech, it must be similar to the TI speech chip.

 

 

It uses a TMS 5220C. Games that support the IBM PS/2 Speech Adapter, which is an ISA card with the same hardware may work on the PCjr, if you can get them to run on the PCjr. of course.