Hello Art,
Am 06.09.2024 um 18:40 schrieb Art Tostaine, Jr. <atostaine@xxxxxxxxx>:
Patrick: Very interesting. When I had a bigger business we bought 150's for our developers so they could work from home. It was very productive for us.
Some sources on the Internet suggest that IBM indeed positioned the 150 as a developer machine. People apparently complained about IBM rightfully requiring full-blown OS license for their main machine plus again a truckload of money "just" for a development box. It's said that this was the main reason about the 150 not requiring lickeys for anything. Would love to learn some first hand rumors about that. :-)
I loved mine.
I still love mine. Also, the concept of two CPUs working hand in hand as a team — one for the actual work, and one as a very enhanced DMA controller — is something which still fascinates me for reasons I have no words to describe. This is the main reason why I perceive Power5 and newer machines as utterly boring, hardware-wise. Very fast but, less elaborated, in a way.
Since some time I own two 150's. The second looks almost pristine, including rear cover and stand. A good box to take to these now modern hacker/maker spaces and vintage computer festivals, and show off what OS/400 is all about. :-)
For backup purposes, I've switched to HP DDS drives a long time ago. Less noise, better performance and — some years ago — an abundance of cartridges on eBay for cheap. All compared to the original QIC. Also, easily IBMified with a tiny can of black spray paint. ;-)
https://try-as400.pocnet.net/wiki/Tape_Drives_on_old_AS/400
When I exchanged the slower 6607 drives with 6717 save 21 + IPL from tape and restore to the new disks worked flawlessly. I was truly impressed. BMR, that's what you want! :-) Doing occasional restores now and then when I did something dumb to a file. ;-)
For once, I found out the PSU pinout, which made is possible to replace defective PSUs with stock ATX PC PSUs with not too much effort.
https://try-as400.pocnet.net/wiki/9401-150_Power_Supply_Pinout
In addition, newer PSUs are more efficient in power conversion (lessening power input) and have bigger but slower rotating fans (generating less noise).
Bought and mounted a small PCB with a temperature sensor to have the big case fan spin just fast enough depending on generated heat. Also bought some adhesive bitumen mats from a "car tuning" shop to dampen the metal sheet resonances from disk vibrations and air resonances from the fans. Together with four 6606 (5400RPM) drives, the machine isn't a sprinter but silent enough that I need to focus to perceive the faint noise. Amazing!
My main machine with the 6717 disks is much louder, despite the same hardware optimizations. But it's tucked away in the basement together with other computing related machinery, so it's nothing. Also, the case has definitely experienced better times before the previous owner(s) stopped caring for it.
At one point I had an IPCS running w2k server with MS HIS 2k.
https://try-as400.pocnet.net/wiki/The_Integrated_PC_Servers
Migrated that to be virtualized in Linux+KVM on common hardware and ripped out the IPCS parts. Again, saves some power. Sadly, can't meaningfully run Linux on it. V4R5 predates IBM joining the Linux hype, so no Linux kernel drivers for the emulated SCSI drives being mapped to *NWSSTG IFS files. A facility IBM "recycled" when using IBM i as hypervisor for subordinate LPARs. :-)
Btw. *not* running any OS on the IPCS is about the same as having an older PC run in BIOS setup. No power saving is in place, no HALT instructions are sent and the CPU runs full speed, becoming extremely hot. This means it converts lots of power to heat doing nothing useful.
I'm searching for a replacement for my second IPCS #2850-012 board which occasionally experiences hiccups and makes OS/400 reset the PCI bus.
I'm also searching for rear covers for my P02 and P03.
I'm also searching for a electrically defective 3486 or other terminal with a similar CRT, preferably in Europe (shipping expenses!). I have one looking almost pristine, suffering from a CRT with a broken neck. The main problem is the screen curvature which needs to match the front bezel's. Sourcing such a tube would be great. Sourcing an amber one instead of a green one would be amazing!
I recycled it when I got a used bigger machine I think but the software wasn't licensed properly. I never really used it and finally scrapped it too.
Aww, how sad.
:wq! PoC
midrange.com
