You will find a lively disagreement here of different voices.
I disagree with some of the other answers, but rather than argue, I state
some of what I think of as "facts" and will let others sort out if they wish.
You might find Open Source and Shareware 400 to be educational and low cost.
http://www.freeas400software.com/
http://www.netshare400.com/
http://www.think400.dk/adhoc.htm
http://hkrebs.dk/sw.html
http://home.alltel.net/craigru/jcrcmd2.html
search engines might find you some more links
http://search400.techtarget.com/
Licensing rules fo OS & Application software demand that this be deleted
when hardware is sold. It is also prudent to delete any data that might
include corporate secrets or people private information. So you might
inherit a box that is like getting an auto without an engine. Depending on
how the old box came to be in the used market, the former owner may have
neglected due diligence.
As IBM comes out with new versions of their great system, they also
periodically come out with new names to communicate that what they are
selling has been revolutionized. Many people continue to use the old
name. Now it is valid to use the old name if you really do have what IBM
sold under the old name. If you are riding around town in a horse & buggy,
it is inappropriate to call it a Porsche just because that is the name of
the replacement chariot now being sold at the transportation
dealers. However, to people not involved in some form of computing, they
are unable to make the mental distinction between a horse & buggy and a
Porshe, so sometimes when they hear of a real Porshe on the road, they call
it a horse & buggy, because that's the old name for ground transport. A
great many people on this list want the horse & buggy to be called a Porshe
because that's what is now being sold. With gas prices up & down, and what
will happen with spare parts if no bailout, maybe the future is a porshe &
horse.
If you are buying a box, make sure that what you are getting is REALLY an
AS/400 and not one of the later boxes that got misnamed AS/400. Not so
long ago I was at the auction of a place that had gone out of business,
(and in the current recession (looming depression?) we may be seeing more
like this) they had some computer equipment. Perhaps it was a mistake for
me to tell the auction company "That is NOT a PC tower, it is an AS/400 ...
IBM might give you some $ to protect their OS from being illlegally sold."
Fortunately irrespective of the naming wars, IBM has remained consistent on
the version # system.
Each hardware box can only support a range of OS versions.
You cannot put the latest and greatest OS version on a hardware box that is
10 years old.
Someone else here will get you link to IBM chart of what OS versions will
run on what boxes. There's also the issue of how you get an OS version
that will run on an old box when IBM no longer authorizes the sale of that OS.
There's also platforms optimized for different mixtures of application
environments.
I think you may want one that is capable of a great variety of functions,
not one that is optimized for a specialized world of computing.
Not all applications will run on all combinations of hardware and OS.
the 400 or whatever later naming flavor you get, is capable of hosting
other OS, such as Unix Linux 36 (earlier SSP OS) each of which has software
written for the hosted OS that will not run on a different hosted OS. Also
there are tools written for the host 400/i5/OS whatever that do not help
with the hosted OS.
Hello,
I am a bit of an IBM fan and have used most of their product line (PCs,
RS/6000, even 390/z - see my pages: http://ps-2.kev009.com:8081/) for
fun and work. However, I have yet to try an AS/400. I see them come
through the local computer recycler and sell on eBay cheaply enough and
would like to pick one up for home tinkering. The goal is to simply
learn and play with another computing platform.
Tips on what models to look out for would be helpful. Obviously, I
don't need a lot of compute power nor current hardware/software. The
one requirement I do have is to be able to setup/interact with the
system over Ethernet rather than fool with something like Twinax.
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.
Regards,
Kevin
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