IBM Industrial Computer: $10,000 PC from 1985

Checking out the IBM 7532 Industrial Computer, introduced in May of 1985 at $6149. Prices only went up from there, easily surpassing $10000 for a decent setup with EGA and a hard drive! It's one monster of a rackmount 286, built for use in professional environments like factories, power plants, and alongside mainframes.

And yep, this is the source of the legendary gray Industrial Model M keyboard!

● LGR links:

● Here's the IBM logo batch file if you'd like to use it yourself:

● Music licensed from:

#LGR #Retro #Computers

[davidromeroblaya]

Playing Wasteland on a dystopian retrofuturistic industrial computer with a green monochrome monitor from the nuclear department of a public energy service. That's immersion.

[benjaminrondeau]

That gigantic card (9:15) is exactly what it says it is, it's an old IBM Channel Adapter. It is indeed used to connect a PC to a mainframe's "Channel I/O Architecture" which is the original implementation that IBM engineer Chet Heath then reused to create the Micro Channel Architecture of the PS/2 line. It's a bus designed to connect the various components of an IBM mainframe but that could also be used to connect to anything with the right adapter.

[martinb]

I love the cameo from the thrifts lamp.

[jero]

For some reason, to me your giving this industrial computer a home and the pleasant task of running games feels like a Grampa who worked hard his whole life getting to putter around his house and play with his grandchildren whilst wearing a comfy sweater.

[raelik]

That channel adapter card is definitely for connecting to a System/370. It's the key component of the IBM 8232 LAN Channel Station. Depending on if you ordered the model 001 or 002 LAN Channel Station, you got either 1 or 2 7532 Industrial PCs with the channel adapter card, a CGA card, and a choice of host network adapters (MAP, Token Ring, Ethernet, etc). The purpose was to act as a bridge between the System/370 and one or more non-SNA LANs to allow desktop PCs to connect to the mainframe with the appropriate software. Considering how common a need this would have been, I'd be willing to bet most 7532s that you find will have this card, since most of them sold were probably sold as part of an 8232 purchase.

[LightBlazeMC]

we need more coverage of these commercial/industrial pcs, they’re so interesting!

[mikeey]

Is anyone else, like, incredibly impressed at how well those little foam filters did their job?

[miket]

I’ve actually repaired computer equipment in the data center in Salem. I’m not surprised the equipment was that clean. I think the most ominous thing was all of the evacuation signs near and around the town.

[redmage]

Playing OG Duke Nukem on a 1980's industrial computer connected to a monitor from a nuclear facility... Just sounds freaking awesome!

[philszczoczarz]

Came across one of these recently running a very old SCADA System for conveyors in a bailing wire mill. They are pretty bullet proof.

[Neufang]

Dude! When you said the Nuclear Department of the Salem New Jersey Power plant I was freaking out, what a small world. I work there currently! Very cool!

[metfanl]

That power switch looks and sounds satisfying as hell.

[enquiryplay]

I miss the days when turning on a PC felt like launching an ICBM.

[RetroRecipes]

I’m just here to say that the lighting in this video’s thumbnail is absolutely gorgeous. That is all.

[lowlanz]

Back then, Industrial was the magic word for making things expensive. More so than Gaming these days

[jipillow]

I live vicariously through Clint. This is case is so metal

[JoshuaJacobs]

What I love most about your videos is that you turn something I have no interest in (a random computer from the late 80’s or so) and turn it into something I want to know everything about. That my good sir, is a testament to your talent and passion. And I thank you

[josephking]

Lets not pretend LGR isn't more excited about that glorious wooden case.

[psivewri]

Wouldn't want to drop that solid beast on your foot 😅

[TheStuffMade]

This might seem very expensive, but in my experience the hardware cost isn't very significant for these types of computers because the whole implementation cost is usually very high with most of it spent on man hours, it's more important that the quality is very high and the mean time between failure is well documented. Also it's quite common for industrial hardware that the supplier/manufacturer must guarantee service and spare parts are available for at least 20 years, especially for government and military contracts.