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Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p Desktop (Brubopeep)

Brubopeep Front

Overview

This product has been replaced by the same computer running ArcaOS 5.1.

The Lenovo M93p desktop computer is compatible with ArcaOS. Built-in video, sound, network, USB, serial port all function under ArcaOS 5.0. The computer features tool-free installation of SATA hard drives and an assortment of PCI and PCIe slots.

Accessories

After you add the computer and optional CPU upgrade to the cart, proceed to the Accessories page to add PS/2 ports, parallel port, floppy drive, hard drive upgrade, IDE card or a USB 2.0 card.

Accessories

CPU upgrade

The central processing unit (CPU) can be upgraded to the Intel Core i7 for faster processing and graphics.

CPU upgrade

Brubopeep CPU upgrade

CPU upgrade: $200.00 USD

PS/2 Ports

PS/2 Ports

Brubopeep PS/2 Ports

PS/2 Ports: $75.00 USD

Parallel Port

This computer has an optional parallel port. The picture shows the tower computer, but the idea is the same. An internal cable connects the parallel port to a slot cover on the rear of the computer.

Parallel Port

Brubopeep Parallel Port

Parallel Port: $50.00 USD

IDE Card

This PCIe-X1 bus card provides an internal IDE connection. You can use this card with DaniS506.ADD to provide support for Parallel ATA (PATA) hard drives.

IDE Card

Quebopeep IDE Card

PCIe IDE Card: $75.00 USD

USB Floppy Drive

This external USB Floppy drive can be used to read and write 720K and 1.44M 3 1/2 inch floppy disks.

USB Floppy Drive

USB Floppy Drive

USB Floppy Drive: $50.00 USD

External WiFi

Using a travel router with a desktop can free you from a wired Ethernet connection. I use the Mango Travel Router to access local WiFi or my phone's hot spot. Mango comes with everything you need to connect to an access point.

Mango Travel Router

Mango Thumbnail

Mango Travel Router: $65.00 USD

In the past, I have also used a TP-Link AC750 Wireless Travel Router, an Asus RP-N12 Wireless N300 Range Extender, and a TP-Link Nano Router. I include a folder of URL links to the admin pages of each of these routers to make it easy to set up the first time.

Instructions and details about external WiFi: Travel Routers

Hard drive upgrade

The hard drive can be upgraded to a 2 TB drive. Either a hard disk or an SSD is available to upgrade.

Hard drive upgrade

Brubopeep hard drive upgrade

Custom Orders

If you want to buy a customized version of this computer, fill out an order form and submit it to Blonde Guy. Blonde Guy will review your order and send you an invoice, payable using PayPal or any major credit card. If you prefer to pay by check, note that in the notes field of the order form, and I will e-mail you an invoice payable by check.

Enter the customizations you want on the computer in the notes portion of the order form.

Specifications

Manufacturer: Lenovo
Model: ThinkCentre M93p Desktop
Model number: 10A8S02D00
Year introduced: 2013
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590 CPU @ 3.30GHz
optional CPU: Intel(R) core (TM) i7-4770 CPU 3.4 GHz
RAM: 8.0 GB
Hard drive: 500 GB SATA
Optional solid state drive: 2000 GB SATA
Optical drive: Lenovo DVD-Multi player drive
Network: Intel Gigabit Ethernet using MultiMac32-E1000E driver
Audio: Intel audio with line out and line in using UniAud driver
USB ports: 8 (2 front, 6 back)
Video ports: VGA, DisplayPort
PS/2 ports: 2 (1 keyboard, 1 mouse)
Parallel ports: 1

Physical Dimensions

Height: 14.8 inches
Width: 4.0 inches
Depth: 13.2 inches
Weight: 17.2 lbs

Power Consumption

Power consumption is 26 Watts, measured with the computer is booted to the desktop and idle. In use, with all 4 cores at 100% the computer can consume about 70 watts. This computer consumes less than 1 Watt if it's plugged in, but switched off.

Disk Layout

The disk is partitioned to provide a bootable operating system volume and a bootable installer. Space is left for addtional bootable volumes. User data is stored on a separate volume.

This is the layout for the 500 GB HD. The Air-Boot boot manager is installed to select the volume to be started.

Volume NameDisk FormatDrive LetterVolume SizeDisk Name
RecoveryFAT16 X:2,000 MBInternal
ArcaOS-FJFS F:10,001 MBInternal
Data-D JFS D:100,000 MBInternal

This is the layout for a 2 TB drive. The Air-Boot boot manager is installed to select the volume to be started.

Volume NameDisk FormatDrive LetterVolume SizeDisk Name
RecoveryFAT16 X:2,000 MB2 TB SSD
ArcaOS-FJFS F:10,001 MB2 TB SSD
Data JFS D:1,857,718 MB2 TB SSD

ArcaOS version

ArcaOS 5.0.6 (Aug 31, 2020) is the version used for this installation.

Performance Benchmarks

This table reports the SysBench 0.9.5 benchmarks for this computer. You can download SysBench 0.9.5 here: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/

CategoryMeasurement
PM-Graphics-marks 309
CPU integer-marks 14777
CPU floating point-marks 1424
DIVE-marks 16555
File I/O-marks 181208
Memory-marks 24859

Software

Preloaded Software

Each Blonde Guy ArcaOS preloaded computer comes with a standard load of software. This page lists what is in the current pre-load. This list is updated over time to incorporate new essential OS/2 software as well as to keep up to date versions of existing software. When you receive your ArcaOS preloaded computer, you will have Blonde Guy's best installation of the latest OS/2 software.

Recovery DVD

The recovery DVD supplied is a bootable ArcaOS DVD with a backup of the hard drive as delivered. You can boot the machine from DVD, and perform maintenance functions. The maintenance folder is available on the recovery DVD. The factory backup is stored in the \Factory directory. The backups are simple zip files. You can use 7z or unzip to extract some or all of the files in a backup.

Build Notes

This section documents what I did to get this computer to work under ArcaOS. It is intended to show what goes into this computer, and also as a guide to the user who wants to build it himself.

BIOS changes

BIOS settings

ArcaOS Installation

With eBay systems, it's best to do a throrough wipe of the hard disk before beginning. OS/2 and therefore ArcaOS, is very picky about drive geometry. A disk laid out by any other operating system will likely not work under OS/2.

I prefer to let Disk Utility on the ArcaOS installation CD do all the work. I boot the DVD, get to the start screen. I pick System Management, and then Disk Utility. This will have several possible outcomes.

If it does not find the disk at all, then perhaps the disk is is partitioned using GPT instead of MBR. The remedy for this is described on the following web page.

Installing ArcaOS over Windows 10

A second possibility is that Disk Utility finds the disk, but does not find valid formatting. In this case the following screen will appear. In this case I simply allow Disk Utility to fix the problem, and reboot.

Disk Utility

** Problems were detected in your disk layout. The problems are listed below.

We may be able to fix these problems for you; see below for details. Please note, however, that we cannot be held liable for any damage or lost data that may result from this action.

The following problems were found:

* There is no valid partition table on the disk. A new partition table must be written before this disk can be used.The disk appears to contain no data, so this operation should be harmless. However, if it does contain data which OS/2 has failed to detect, any such data will be lost if you proceed.

The above problem(s) must be fixed before you can use this disk with OS/2.

If I have fixed the disk using DiskUtility or other procedure, then I run Disk Utility again. If it says "No problems found.", then I proceed to lay out the disk paritioning that I want using "Manage Volumes (Graphical)."

Once volumes are laid out, I can proceed to install ArcaOS, or use the Blonde Guy Recovery DVD to restore a backed up ArcaOS installation.

Driver Notes

The Disk driver is OS2AHCI with native command queueing enabled. UniAud works with /A:1.

BASEDEV=OS2AHCI.ADD /N /F /V:2

Driver=F:\MMOS2\UNIAUD32.SYS /A:1

A fix included in ArcaOS 5.0.1 does allow DOS Full-Screen to work. Alt-Home from a DOS Full-Screen then allows a DOS Window to work.

Photos

Front

Brubopeep Front

Back

Brubopeep Back

Rear Panel

Brubopeep Rear Panel

Interior shot with tool-free drive bays.

Brubopeep Interior