IBM 5535 Multistation

Details: Published: 15 May 2025

IBM Japan had a range of Kanji-character-enabled desktop computers, called the Multistations. This was part of that family with the addition of a greyscale LCD display. Although 5535 is the 'laptop' range of machines, With the sheer size and weight (7kg), I think you would consider it more like a 'space saving desktop', much like the IBM Convertible. It has a sibling called the 5535-S which has a slightly different design and is 'less boxy'.

Model	IBM 5535
Machine Types	5535-M
Release Timeframe	Sold from October1987 for around 4 years.
Preceded by
Superceded by
Motherboard Specs	10MHz Intel 286
Display Specs	Monochrome STN, 720x512 resolution, 16-dot characters

My machine is a 5535-M19, which sold for 595,000 YEN - equivilent to about £8,000 in today's money. It rocks a 286 CPU running at 10Mhz. It has an expansion slot on the left side and a 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy disk drive on the right.

The display is a rather unusual 16-dot mono with a strange resolution of 720x512.

My machine has a 3274 adaptor with big fat connector sticking out of the side, which would support coaxial connection via 3270 to an IBM mainframe's 3274 controller. The 3247 controller was a huge box connected to a mainframe to offload connection processing to the mainframe.

Latest Updates

Translating PS/55 note Japanese keyboard to English keyboard mapping

If you connect a western keyboard to the earliest PS/55 and PS/55 N23 SX notes, the keyboard mappings are all messed up. Here is a rough map of what key is mapped to what real keypress:

Read more: Translating PS/55 note Japanese keyboard to English keyboard mapping

IBM PS/Note N45 SL (Zenith)

This is one of three N45 SL machines I have in a box. I previously gave up a day and ended up with one complete boxed one, a second unboxed one as a nice working companion and a third 'parts' machine. The N45 came in two models sporting different CPUs - the SL and SX.

You'll notice the case badge has similarities to both the 2141 (a PS/1 type) PS/note 182 and the PS/1 case badge - unlike the other PS/note and IBM Thinkpad oval badges, you'd think it is architecturally closely related to the (same year) PS/Note 182. However this machine feels Zenith-made through and through - much like the Thinkpad 300 which usurped it as the 2615. It shares a similar case plastic, power brick, display, keyboard and battery. Perhaps IBM were briefly marketing the N45 as the low-end (outsourced) notebook and the N51 as the high end (IBM-built) notebook, which eventually became the Thinkpad 300 as low-end and 700 as high.

Putting it another way, IBM were obviously toying with what to do about the cost-reduced 'low end' and had the 2141 "Lexmark Lexbook AR-10" PS/note and the Zenith-made N45 SL then "Zenith Z-Note 433Lnc+" 300 all coming out at once. You'll find some very reputable sites not even acknowledging the 2141 or 261x machines because they do not follow the 'true bloodline' of the IBM notebooks. The N45 SL may well have a Zenith step brother, but I haven't found a reference to it.

My first machine amazingly has a i387 upgrade chip (a maths coprocessor for the 386) fitted.

Read more: IBM PS/Note N45 SL (Zenith)

IBM PS/2 Model CL57 SX

This is a massive, stange, outlier in IBM's journey into portable personal computers. CL for 'Color Laptop' and 57 for....... fuck knows. The type is 8554 and it runs MCA bus. It's almost completely unique although it shares a look similar to that of the possibly-vaporware, Japan-only PS/55 Power (PC) Laptop EWS - which also feels like a skunkworks project.

Some sources state this machine started as a Model N27sx - a 'for fun' IBM Japan design for domestic japanese market. I can't find much source material that this is true though. Apparently, the CPU was downgraded from a 486 to a 386 so as to not compete with other PS/2 machines. Supposedly there are some hidden clues on the machines that despite it's international 85xx model designation, the plant ID is 97 which is IBM Japan Entry Systems factory in Fujisawa.

Read more: IBM PS/2 Model CL57 SX

PS/2 Note N51 SX and SLC

After the successes of the original note (1st Gen), the N23 (2nd Gen) and the N33 machines, two machines share the third generation space - the still-monochome MCA N51 and TFT Colour, ISA C23V.

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Notes on notes

Note: The 5499 On-Line note isn't really part of the brand note family. Whilst it's certainly a notebook, it's a weird dead end portable terminal which has very little use unconnected to a maintrame.

PS/55 note (5523) - The PS/55 was a range of Type-55xx computers for only Japan. They're based on the PS/2 but ISA bus and with special Japanese localisations supporting the more technically difficult languge to display on screen and type on a keyboard.

The 'note' branding was devised for the Notebook versions and within Japan all had to be in the 5523 model range (as opposed to 5535 for laptops).

The original (or 1st Generation) 12Mhz PS/55 Note was the 386 5523-S0x model with sandwiched planars and room for either a FDD or HDD. The case badge was simply a blue (for monochrome) IBM oval with PS/55 note labelling.

Read more: Notes on notes