I have an AS/400 in my trunk...

From: Ian Primus <ian_primus_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Dec 4 04:47:19 2003

On Wednesday, December 3, 2003, at 09:50 PM, Paul Thompson wrote:

> See embedded comments
>
> On Wed, 3 Dec 2003, Ian Primus wrote:
>
>> my car is sagging from the weight of an IBM AS/400 Model 9404. It's
>
> Heh heh, I managed to fit one of these into a two door Mitsubishi
> Eclipse. I had to remove most everything to lift it, however.

I got lucky, it just barely fits in the trunk of my car, a Toyota
Camry. I still haven't gotten it out of my trunk though, I'm going to
need help to lift it out.

> You might be screwed. If it a beige CISC model you probably are. It
> does
> not run linux and the raw assembly code of the machine remains an IBM
> proprietary secret. All non-IBM code ran an abstracted assembly code.
> Most CISC 9404's maxed out at comically small amounts of RAM compared
> even
> to machines of similar age. (My 9404-E20 had 8 MB as I recall which at
> that feature code was the max)

Yeah, it's beige. I hope I can get it to do something, I don't have
room for a hundred pound doorstop.

> You need special licensed code tapes to recreate the OS if the disks
> are
> missing and then a secret number from IBM to keep it running past 90
> days
> of OS install. The manual which came with my 9404 even claimed there
> was
> a movement sensor in the Operator control panel (with the display and
> key
> which contains the proprietary licensing bits) which would cause the
> system to demand a new code if it sensed too much movement.

Well, if I can get the OS installed and running even for 90 days, It
would be better than nothing. Does IBM have a hobbyist license program?

> The boards are probably all worthless, even on Ebay, unless possibly
> you
> have an ethernet or token ring board.

I haven't looked that closely, but I think it has a token ring board in
it.

Ian Primus
ian_primus_at_yahoo.com
Received on Thu Dec 04 2003 - 04:47:19 GMT