On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 22:09, Kevin Bowling <kevin.bowling@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I also see the potential problem of finding a system with software,
since I assume it is not cheap to get a hold of os400. Any comments or
suggestions would be appreciated.. as you can tell I am a total newbie
to AS/400s.
My suggestion would be to contact a local IBM i BP or IBM i ISV.
They'd probably able to give you an old machine from the
150/170/250/270 range for a few crates of beer. I would offer
something, but shipping over the big pond is ridiculously expensive.
There are a few machine models that may be interesting for you -
almost all of them have "bigger brothers", but the smallest models are
probably most interesting to you.
Model 150: The oldest one, extremely small and not noisy. Supports
Ethernet with a #2838 card, not all of the models had them. Console is
Twinax. I think the max OS without keys was V4R5, and newer OS were
possible but uncommon.
Model 170: Probably the most easy to find, as these machines have
become completely impossible to use due to their extravagant slowness.
Latest OS on it is V5R3, but if you get such a machine with V5R3 it
will be even slooooower. Also uses #2838 Ethernet cards, which were
pretty common. Console is Twinax.
Model 250/270: Also quite old, but it a bit newer. The 250 maxes out
at V5R3, the 270 at V5R4. Ethernet is standard, and they also support
Operations Console with Ethernet or a Serial cable. I believe the
serial cable version was more common, but i may be wrong.
Model 800: They run up to V6R1, Ethernet is standard, and OpsCon with
both Ethernet and Serial Cable is possible. They offer decent speed
for a single user. It's possible to get one of these for free, but the
likelyhood will be low.
Model 520: The previous generation machines. Most of them are
currently nearing their 3 year mark and they're up for replacement in
shops that keep current. Can run V6R1 and will be able to run post
that. Can use OpsCon (comes with dual ethernet standard, so you can
always convert one to OpsCon LAN), HMC and Twinax. It would probably
be very difficult to get such a machine for free, unless you're a very
good bargainer.
Model 515: Hardware-wise pretty much the same as a second-generation
520, it has a fully unlocked processor and is instead priced per user.
Licensing is not enforced, so it would probably the best machine to
have fun with. But the model was launched later, their 3 year mark is
up in 1.5 years or so.
My Advice: Get a 270 with V5R4 minimum. Newer is always better. Even a
low-end model 270 is ridiculously slow. 150 and 170s are even worse,
especially when running a current OS.
midrange.com
