Re: Advice for a mid-range noob looking to buy a system

Hello Enzo,

Am 15.02.2022 um 01:54 schrieb Enzo D'Amato <edamato@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

I am new to mid-range systems, and I am looking at purchasing a mid-range system second hand for leaning and experimentation uses.

Good idea!

Are we talking about a commercial background, or a more pure hobbyist approach?

I know that buying/setting up/installing a mid-range system is much more complicated than purchasing a standard x86 system.

It's not. If you're just used to Power machinery and have no clue about x86 hardware, you'd be equally convinced that x86 is more complicated. :-)

The asking price for this unit is $100, plus another $100 for shipping. Unfortunately, this unit has had its disks removed from it, meaning that I will have to track down and install the software myself.

First: Disks are "special". See here for an explanation: http://try-as400.pocnet.net/wiki/Ordinary_Harddisks_on_the_AS/400

Second: Create an IBM ID on ibm.com. With that you can log on, and download "Trial Versions" from entitled software "something" (ESS) from V5R4 onward. You can't access PTFs ("patches") with that, though.

Here's a table showing which machines support which releases: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/system-ibm-i-mapping

The OS requires license keys which are bound to the serial number and which might be *very* expensive to acquire. For that reason, it might be feasible to look out for other options, such as a system with an intact install, or at least documented license keys. Personally, I'm fond of the now very old 9401-150 models. These have the advantage that no license keys are required, and their power dissipation is below 100W. Living room compatible noise levels can be achieved with some effort. Depending on which level of learning you want to do, there will be some restrictions, though. Such as RPG only allowing positional coding compared to all-free syntax being available with 7.something.

Maybe browse around here for some musings and other insights: http://try-as400.pocnet.net

I am not concerned with what I would need to properly licence the machine, but what I would need to get the thing working at all.

The main concern I faced is how to get a working console connection. Contrary to Larry, I'm very fond of Twinax. To me, it's the easiest to set up, if the hardware still supports it. Plug & Play. The terminals are getting scarce, and thus raise in price, though.

Keep in mind that having a console might not be a one-time thing for installing. Also doing a full system save involves bringing the machine to restricted state ("single user mode"), effectively disabling network access. And, if you're experimenting, it might be necessary for recovery reasons to have a console.

:wq! PoC (OS/400|i5/OS|IBM i Hobbyist)