The AS/400, otherwise known as iSeries or System i5 (IBM do love their
re-branding) run OS/400. What level I can't remember, but possibly only
up to around V5R3 ish for this machine.
It was borne out of the system/38 back in about 87 with a range of CICS
machines, the 170 is a RISC powerpc machine that was nicknamed
"invader". Designed by Dr Frank Soltis, these were the first machines
to include an integrated database that conformed to Ted Codds Rules.
I code on similar, although significantly bigger machines today for a
top bank, and it runs a huge amount of the worlds banking systems. It
is also very heavily used in manufacturing and distribution. Some
people run apache on it and thus use it as a very secure web-server.
There is a large amount of vendor software written for it such as SAP,
Coda, JBA to name a few out of many.
To actually connect and do something with it, you will need a 5250
emulator on your pc, I dare say it came with one such a Client Access,
or there is as teast one free version available. VT100 emulation is
possible, but it isn't great.
A few commands you can try:
WRKACTJOB - Work with active jobs
WRKSPLF - Work withj spooled files
PWRDWMSYS - Power it downwhen you've given up trying to work
out how to use it
STRPDM - Start programming development manager
GO MAIN - go into the main menu where you can do
lots of stuff withou knowing what commands to use
CRTBNDRPG - create an RPG program
CRTCLPGM - create a CL program
there are thousands of commands....far to many to list here.
To get coding you will need a source file. You program source will be a
member in this file.
To Create a library to put it in CRTLIB then press F4
To create a source file CRTSRCPF, press F4 and enter
the details
to create a source member STRPDM and then select option to
work with members, put your file and library name in, then press F6 to
create and off you go....
There are numerous web-sites around that says what it does and with code
that can be downloaded. I suggest you do a little googling.
Adam
On 04/06/2009 18:05, rescue at
hawkmountain.net wrote:
A friend of mine just obtained an AS400.
It is a "9406-170 System S104V7NM Subsystem QCTL".
I know nothing of AS400s. He did say it boots.
So, what specs are this ? What does it run (OS ?, Apps ?),
and what can be done with it (he was originally going to use
it as an end table !!! until he found it actually booted).
-- Curt