IBM Network Station 300

Introduction

Network Station Series 300 is a family of thin clients, once manufactured by IBM. As the official product support has been discontinued, these devices are now mostly considered obsolete in corporate environments. They can therefore be found at online auctions, second-hand dealers and similar venues—usually at quite reasonable prices. This web site tries to help out in making a good use of a Network Station 300 in case you happen to have purchased one.

Sections on this website

A Brief Overview of the Network Station
What is a Network Station? What can you do with a Network Station? What kind of an operating system does a Network Station run?
The History of the Network Station
How Network Stations were originally marketed; what was their purpose in corporate environments, and which companies were (possibly) involved behind-the-scenes.
Network Station 300 Hardware Details
Everything about the NS300 hardware.
Installing and Using the Original IBM Network Station 300 Software
Using Boot Monitor, booting over the network, installing Network Station Manager (aka Thin Client Manager), using the native applications; various configuration tips, tricks and secrets.
Homebrew Network Station 300 Software Projects and Hardware Experiments
General ideas and information about possible home-brew software and hardware extensions. For example, I will try to collect anything related to (possibly) running Linux on a Network Station here, and will gladly add any information about interesting technical findings related to, for example, the original operating system, or compatible PCMCIA devices.
Related links
Links to resources and documentation outside this site.

Other sources of information