Nekochan Net

I have the chance to get one for a "good price". Thing is, I don't even know what's the configuration on it (so I don't really know if it's even a good price or if it's just a pile of scrap metal!). It's quite massive and looks loaded. Been googlin' on them AS400, and it seems like they are an interesting concept. Resources are not as readily available (for free) as unix, and I still need to figure out how to boot that thing and get a 'hinv' of sorts to see what's on it and if it's worth buying. Anyone here know of a site with info on starting up and getting into OS/400?

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Sitting in a room.....thinkin' shit up.

400MHz R12k - Apple G4 Cube dual 500MHz/GF6200 - Newton Messagepad 2100 - Apple PowerBook 2400c/G3@240 - DECstation5000/133 - Apple Workgroup Server 9150/120 - Apple Macintosh IIfx - Apple Macintosh Color Classic (Mystic upgrade) - Sun Cobalt Cube 3 - Tadpole RDI UltraBook IIi

Some AS/400 discussion here:

viewtopic.php?t=9715

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Twitter: @neko_no_ko
IRIX Release 4.0.5 IP12 Version 06151813 System V
Copyright 1987-1992 Silicon Graphics, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Yep, that thread confirms my thoughts: getting it up and running will be hard if there's no OS, or if the wallet ain't phat.

Maybe I can gut the thing and turn it into a doghouse for my giant schnauzer

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Sitting in a room.....thinkin' shit up.

400MHz R12k - Apple G4 Cube dual 500MHz/GF6200 - Newton Messagepad 2100 - Apple PowerBook 2400c/G3@240 - DECstation5000/133 - Apple Workgroup Server 9150/120 - Apple Macintosh IIfx - Apple Macintosh Color Classic (Mystic upgrade) - Sun Cobalt Cube 3 - Tadpole RDI UltraBook IIi

If it's one of the non-POWER-derived models definitely stay away- the O/S is so paranoid about licensing that it shuts down if the power has been off for 30 days and will not run until IBM okays it. There are very specific "microcode"-type floppies (can't remember what it's called right now, but it's the midlevel "virtual machine" that the O/S runs on) that are specific to the machine, etc. etc.

No experience with the POWER-derived models, not sure if the Hypervisor is ROM-resident or something with very expensive and picky licensing. If not, go ahead and give it a try.

The Mid-Level stuff is usually called the ILC or Internal Licensed Code. And OS/400 is the biggest pain in the butt to get ahold of. As a general rule...from IBM, you cannot buy OS/400, i5/os or whatever it is now. It's kinda like SGI, you get a support contract and can then request the media and OS license. IBM only archives the last set of media from and back dated releases...so V3R7, V4R5...but V5 is the current release so all the revs are available.

And if the system supports LPARs...then OS/400 is the hypervisor and all that. I run a 9406-510 at work for my own play thing and have a 9406-170 at home that I run my webserver on.

If you can give me more details as to the Model/type, PRC feature I can give you some more info as to how good of a machine it is. Also if the machine is up, see if you can get the output from a "WRKHDWRSC TYPE(*PRC)" command.

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WolfLord -

"Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun" - Troy McClure

The machine is a 9404-620.
Couldn't find much info on it

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Sitting in a room.....thinkin' shit up.

400MHz R12k - Apple G4 Cube dual 500MHz/GF6200 - Newton Messagepad 2100 - Apple PowerBook 2400c/G3@240 - DECstation5000/133 - Apple Workgroup Server 9150/120 - Apple Macintosh IIfx - Apple Macintosh Color Classic (Mystic upgrade) - Sun Cobalt Cube 3 - Tadpole RDI UltraBook IIi

Without a processor Feature Code it's hard to get a good fix on the system. Unless you know it's working, that it comes with a working twinax breakout and terminal with cables, and either cdrom or tape media to reload the system...it may not be worth getting.

They are nice systems when they're running, very stable and user friendly...but, because of where they fall in the systems hirearchy they're not widely supported and not an ideal hobby platform unless you're already familure with them.

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WolfLord -

"Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun" - Troy McClure