IBM RS/6000 Model 320 (7012-320) and AIX 3.2.5

[Glen Slick]

On Fri, Jan 3, 2020 at 8:39 PM Chris Hanson via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> I have an IBM RS/6000 POWERstation 320 (original 7012-320) with plenty of RAM and SCSI storage. I’d like to install AIX 3.2.5 on it.
>
> The CD images appear to be ISO-9660 format, containing piles of “AIX backup/restore format file” archives; the floppy images are also identified as being that format (no filesystems, just archive content). I’ve seen some stuff online that talks about installing from tape using DAT, so it seems like in theory I should be able to just push the CD contents to a tape and go.
>
> Can I use the 3.2.0 boot floppy images with a couple of DDS-1 tapes containing the files from the 3.2.5 CDs to directly install AIX 3.2.5? In what order should the files be put on the tapes? Or do I really need to do a complete install of 3.2.0 first?
>
> Another important question: Will I need some sort of key to use the included AIXwindows and xlc, or should this stuff just work?
>
> Finally, is there a complete set of post-release patches for AIX 3.2.5 online somewhere? I know 3.2.5 itself was primarily a patch roll-up release, I assume that with Y2K remediation and other bug fixes in the mid- and late-2000s there were a few additional patches released over time.
>

When I had 7012-320 systems over 10 years ago I installed AIX 3.2.5
from a set of 6 DC6150 QIC tape images that I got from R. Stricklin (
http://www.typewritten.org/Software/ ). I don't remember needing to
use any boot floppies. As far as I can remember I just booted directly
from the first AIX 3.2.5 installation tape in an external QIC drive.

I vaguely remember getting a bunch of update patches for AIX 3.2.5.
Not sure whether I ever bothered trying to install them. I also don't
remember if I got those patches directly from R. Stricklin, or if he
pointed me to some archive site, maybe somewhere at MIT, where I
downloaded them at the time.

I had some form of X11 running at the time without any issues that I
can remember to get it going. Don't remember if that was the native
AIXwindows. Pretty sure I got to experience everyone's favorite the
SMIT "Running Man".

All too long ago now for systems that I never really used much between
the time I collected them and the time I recycled them.