Looking for suggestions for this

[mazzinia at tin.it]

Hello,

Were the license documents included in the auction ? otherwise you can only
install it with a temporary license and reinstall every , I think, 6 months.
If the hdds you got are from an as/400, it should work ( remember to never
format them in a normal pc, if you change the factory sector setting, you
will turn them into normal disks )

-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Kevin Parker via
cctalk
Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2020 8:40 AM
To: 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Looking for suggestions for this

Hi folks - quite some time ago I picked up this little beauty (well I'm sure
some may agree or disagree with me) off of ePAY. I happen to like black IBMs
of any type.

Of course I got gouged at the checkout paying the princely sum of $1.04 AUD
- some might say I got robbed. In the photo with the other machines it's the
big one. Included was the machine of course, the tape drive, the monitor
(the keyboard is somewhere) and a heap of connectors and cables - and I did
get the key with it too. What was missing were the HDDs (which they trashed
to  get rid of the data) and all the documentation (which they tossed before
they realised that they could flog it on ePAY and get someone else to take
it away).

http://koken.advancedimaging.com.au/index.php?/albums/as400/

But as I rationalise space in my increasingly small collection facility I
need to make some decisions about things so I'm looking for some suggestions
as to what I can do with this machine. At the risk of being applauded for
some ideas and being flamed for others some suggestions are:

1. Do nothing - it's a very interesting conversation piece and its worth
preserving.
2. Someone is looking for one of these for parts and will pay me a fortune.
3. Dump it.
4. Donate it to a museum - they'll need a truck and four big guys.
5. Trade it for scrap value.
6. Get it running - now there's a big leap I suspect!! I did manage to
procure some HDDs from another AS/400 but as to whether they are suitable or
this would even work is not even remotely my bailiwick. 
7. Gut it and build a cluster inside it so at least it looks and runs like a
big computer so I can get some WOW factor from those who don't know any
different.
8. Gut it and turn it into a bar fridge.
9. Anything else...

Thank you


Kevin Parker