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I have an 820 acquired from ebay which I got lucky by having it not be initialized. I've never gotten anywhere good talking to IBM. Supposedly you can transfer ownership if you have some kind of entitlement certificate. I do not. I had to crack the qsysopr password using published but intricate methods with the control panel. Mine also requires a system password on boot which I am able to get around using rather low tech methods (disconnect and reconnect the LAN console and it just continues booting). I'm afraid to install PTF's for fear that that low tech method hole got closed. Then my system would turn into a 350 pound paperweight. The system I got appears to be a hodgepodge of leftover parts so there are P10 keys installed but P20 cpu, etc.

I had a lot of trouble just getting OS media. A LOT.

I'd put it on the internet and create free accounts and let people do whatever on it if I wasn't worried about it phoning home and the power consumption. There is far more I don't know about these systems than what I do.

It loses at least one drive a year. Always keep some ebay spares on hand.

I don't understand why there aren't low power portable hobbyist i systems. They could regain a lot of market share if people could experiment and self learn instead of going to expensive paid training or only touching critical systems at work.

I'm not sure why these companies worry so much about the licensing on very old systems. I know they're just trying to push new system adoption but the methods just feel a little crazy to me. My system has bsafe, lotus domino, antivirus and a few other bits licensed on it. But who wants to use 5+ year old versions of these software packages in production with critical business data? I would never. Most likely I'll just end up wiping all that stuff off the system eventually. I don't even want to risk using these software packages personally let alone for my company. I bought it specifically to learn about SST, DST, and the more interesting internals. Also to have a completely isolated development environment. Shortly after I bought it I had no real reason to work with IBM i anymore so it's just sat.

Mark


On 09/30/2014 08:08 AM, Jim Oberholtzer wrote:
Yes, It's unreasonable to expect IBM to give you keys without purchasing the
software. Furthermore the 170 and any of the OS versions that would run on
it have been removed from marketing/sales so short of a senior executive
approving a PRPQ for it, you're going to get really good at a complete
restore every 69 days or so.......

--
Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jeff
Bull
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 4:28 AM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: OS/400 Authorisation Keys

Is IBM a Big Blue snake eating its own tail?


I have (rather foolishly perhaps) purchased an old AS/400 Model 170 to “play
with” at home, well the price was right!


The system used to be owned by a retail chain here in the UK, and I have
been told by IBM that it used to have V5R4 on it, so they do know about this
system.


As a part of the recycling process the system/disks were initialised; it was
then reloaded with V5R2, with a 70-day temporary key. Rather naively I
thought that it would come with a permanent code.


I have been trying to obtain a permanent key for this little, old AS/400.
The IBM Software Key Support centre say they can’t help, that I need to
contact my IBM Business Partner - yeah right!, or the sales team who sold me
the system - a one-man-company, not meaning to be offensive, but
“tin-merchant”. An IBM Business partner is going to take one look at me, see
no potential revenue … good-bye Jeff. Mr Tin-man is not set up for this kind
of client support.


I really don’t want to pay IBM’s normal list price for an OS/400 licence on
a system running V5R2, long since gone out of support, and for a system that
will likely only last a couple of years before it has to go to the Big Blue
Computer-Heaven in the Sky.


It is me being unreasonable to expect, and naïve to try, to get something
discounted from IBM, suck in breath … or the price even waived? I’ve worked
on the AS/400, iSeries, System i and on System/38 before that since 1987. A
little ‘thank you’ from IBM would be a nice gesture for my small part in the
success of this platform.


Please, I need some inspiration on how to resolve this conundrum. Perhaps a
nice person at IBM will read this posting and give me some advice, or even
help me obtain the permanent code.


P.S. It gets worse though, I actually bought three 170’s, the other two for
friends/colleagues, so we could have our own little network. :|


Regards


Jeff Bull

Technical Manager

NYCO Ltd iSeries & AS/400 Automation Specialists

IBM Certified iSeries Technical Solutions Expert

IBM Certified iSeries System Administration Specialist


Tel: +44(0)118 327 1200

Mbl: +44(0)775 692 3335

VOIP: +44(0)118 328 2272

Email: <mailto:jeff.nyco@xxxxxxx> jeff.nyco@xxxxxxx

Skype: jeff-bull

Website: www.nyco.co.uk


Postal Address: NYCO Limited, Park House, 17 Headley Road, Woodley, Reading,
Berkshire, RG5 4JB, United Kingdom


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