The problem is not just the checks in the boot process; it is also the boot process itself. Pretty much all POWER-based operating systems (the BSDs, Linux, AIX, but also e.g. Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X) use Open Firmware to bootstrap their kernels, which IBM i doesn't use.
You can easily observe this yourself; if you have a recent POWER systems machine you can change between AIX/Linux and IBM i in ASMI (or the HMC) to IPL an LPAR, and you won't be able to IPL AIX/Linux on a partition set to IBM i. You also won't get to the OF prompt when IPL'ing in IBM i mode (which you do in AIX/Linux mode), and also don't see any OF-related messages. Instead, you see the early bootstrap SRCs until control is passed on to IBM i, after which it goes silent.
If you compare modern IBM i with the older versions of OS/400, you'll find that the boot process is fairly similar. If I'm not mistaken there used to be a few RedBooks around for Advanced Diagnostics that describe it in greater detail.
TL;DR, you won't even IPL an I_BASE media on all public emulators; the firmware images available simply don't know what to do with IBM i media. If I'd have to make an educated guess, the internal IBM emulator would have a different firmware image and a bunch of IFDEFs to exclude modules that emulate IBM i-specific hardware from public builds - it's how I would do it.
This all happens before the checks Jim here mentions.
-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 26 May 2020 17:04
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion' <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: OS/400 on mambo emulator
The short answer is no. There are checks for hardware in the boot process that would not allow it to load.
IBM can does emulate IBM i internally in various ways but that's only for development and internal testing.
I highly doubt IBM will replicate the ability to emulate IBM i the way it did with DOS and VM on the mainframes (yes there was a DOS for mainframes) since many of those customers bought Intel boxes to run it on. Turned out to be a huge problem in the end for those customers and IBM. (they were also kinda funny looking to see huge bus/tag cables to support printers/tape units to this larger than average floor standing PC, a double wide if you
will)
--
Jim Oberholtzer
Agile Technology Architects
-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Vlad Korge
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2020 5:01 AM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion' <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: OS/400 on mambo emulator
Just to add some background to the question...
IBM has released a public version of mambo power emulator for x86 3 years
ago:
https://developer.ibm.com/linuxonpower/2017/04/06/new-open-source-tool-power
-functional-simulator-installer/
However, the package is bundled with the Linux image.
So, I wonder if it would be possible to run the i5/OS images on it somehow?
I.e. do something similar to what z-guys are doing with Hercules.
Cheers,
Vlad.
-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Vlad Korge
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2020 6:58 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: OS/400 on mambo emulator
Hi,
Has anyone tried running os/400 on mambo? Is it even technically possible?
Cheers,
Vlad.
--
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