RE: OS/400 V4R3 installation CDs

Good to know about the changes in V5R1. My main objective right now is learning enough system administration and RPG development to hopefully land some jobs in IBM i. pub400 lets me practice free format, while my Model 170 will let me do system administration and fixed format development without restrictions, and if I get installation media and setup backups, without fear of bricking anything.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I should also be able to install V5 on the 170, albeit it will run slowly and be limited to the 70 day trial, correct? If I can get the HDDs replaced with BlueSCSIs, I could have two sets of SD cards for both OS's to play with.

Kind Regards,
Ali Mualla

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Charles Wilt
Sent: Thursday, 26 March 2026 17:16
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: OS/400 V4R3 installation CDs

I'd be very shocked if BlueSCSI worked ... IBM AS/400 drives had some particular firmware and 520(?) byte sectors...

Honestly, a v4r3 is pretty dang old...installation has changed. Electronic delivery came out in v5r1.

Good luck!
Charles

On Thu, Mar 26, 2026 at 10:01 AM Ali Mualla <geek@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi all,



Long time lurker, first time writing here.



Yesterday, I became the proud owner of a Model 170 in fairly good
condition (IMO). Bought from a really nice retired gentleman who used
to work as an IT technician on IBM i hardware, and who came to deliver
the machine and help me set it up in my home network and connect to
it. The system came with a clean licensed install of V4R3. As I
understood from him, he restored the system from a QIC backup. I also
got a 5250 terminal box and an IBM keyboard, and in a couple of days
will receive PCMCIA 5250 cards bought from ebay in the US.



I’m a software engineer with almost 20 years of experience in about
half a dozen programming languages, but who’s new to AS/400 and has
been learning on and off for the past year using the great pub400.



As I live in Germany, the system came with the interface in German.
While I’m learning the language and debating using that as an extra
excuse to practice the language (and slowly reading Holger Scherer’s
Kurs für Einsteiger), but still want to learn and be able to install
the OS from scratch, since one of the things I want to try is
replacing the HDDs with BlueSCSI Ultra.



I was wondering if anyone in the community has V4R3 CDs or ISOs laying
around who’s willing to sell them, or sell CD-R copies or even provide
ISOs for download. I’m willing to pay for the hassle of making the
ISOs and uploading them somewhere.



Kind Regards,

Ali Mualla

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