Saved from recycling
Posted by zstroh@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 34 comments
Saved this from recycling! Guy told me trashing this thing would be a sin!
I know nothing about this machine, does anyone here enjoy these?
This is not a sales post, but if someone can verify a collector would utilize this, I would like to move forward with finding it a home where it will be used/admired.
Also have a monitor, keyboard, and the gigantic cabling used to connect it all (brick with other bullet connectors)
Thanks in advance and feel free to tell me to take this down mods.
Thanks for any info!
O
Kinky_No_Bit@reddit
SCSI drives I take it? what gen is the LTO drive?
rezdm@reddit
Nice find,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mUwJk81YatA
smpstech@reddit
It’s an IBM iSeries 9405-520. They’re a heavy duty piece of enterprise gear, they’re really cool but totally different from any traditional x86 based server. It will run IBM i, it’s a descendent of the AS400 series. Many of these are still chugging g away in enterprises today. There’s not many collectors of them, but they are out there. Clabretro just did a video getting IBM i installed on a similar machine, there are some people on The Serial Port discord who are interested in these and can help you along with it.
SirTwitchALot@reddit
They were also used for AIX. Most IBM gear from that era can run either, and they didn't separate the lines
hatecirclejerks@reddit
Aix is a depressingly bad OS.
At least aix 4.1.4-5
SpeedDaemon1969@reddit
That's why we called it "aches".
PaleSignature4776@reddit
Both are great yt channels for the un initiated as well
abusivestillness@reddit
The power consumption on those things is insane though, so make sure you have a solid plan for actually running it if you want to fire it up regularly.
zstroh@reddit (OP)
Thank you!
Cwc2413@reddit
What an amazing find! Very cool!
DrNick42@reddit
Beast of a machine but I’m surprised it doesn’t even have redundant power supplies!
ISortaStudyHistory@reddit
So install linux?
WhiteLab@reddit
Hey I helped make that! We used to put Suse Linux on them in the lab if you are looking for a Linux distribution.
Great find!
zstroh@reddit (OP)
That’s awesome!
flecom@reddit
I've been resisting buying a machine for AIX... Must.. Resist....
zstroh@reddit (OP)
Fight it! 😂
bd1308@reddit
Holy shit you hit the goldmine!
zstroh@reddit (OP)
Think so!?
bd1308@reddit
Yeah that’s a cool server, I’ve always wanted an AS/400, good luck with those! I have x86 but it’s not AS400 cool! Totally jelly
FullstackSensei@reddit
Oh, and I suggest you post about this on r/IBMi They'll tell you everything you want to know, and you'll be invited to the discord where there are several gray beards who've been working on these things for 40+ years
zstroh@reddit (OP)
Thank you!
FullstackSensei@reddit
YW!
I just gave a heads-up to the discord. You should hear some more info soon.
FullstackSensei@reddit
FWIW, you can use the IBM system builder for this model to identify which specs/components you have.
Be careful if you open it up. Those systems require cards to be in a specific slot, even if the slots all look the same.
If you have or can access a SCSI controller, do yourself a favor and image each of the hard drives in linux using dd. As others pointed out, if it still has the OS, you'll have a backup of the license key (LIC).
The first thing you should try to do is connect the twinax box to the DB-25 connector on the card in slot 3. If the CRT has a twinax port (and you have the twinax cable to connect the CRT to the twinax splitter) connect it to the twinax splitter). Then power on the monitor and power on the system after that. After a couple of seconds, you should see a blinking cursor. Give the system 3-4 minutes and if it has an OS, you should see a login screen on the CRT.
These things are 5x more valuable if they come with a licensed OS, because it's very difficult to get the key from IBM. It can only be requested by the businesss/company that had purchased the OS license. And unlike Windows, the key is coupled to the hardware. You can't use it on any other machine.
RadishAggravating491@reddit
That almost looks like a IBM Power Server, I see two HMC (Hardware Management Ports) ports in the back. Very odd find. Can open the case by chance?
zstroh@reddit (OP)
It’s an IBM server. “IBM Type 9405-520 (an IBM eServer i5 / iSeries System i mid-range server, commonly associated with the AS/400 lineage)”
RadishAggravating491@reddit
If you can’t find a home for it let me know. I have not seen one of those outside a data center in years. Runs AIX UNIX, very cool.
zstroh@reddit (OP)
I’ll shoot you a message!
coastphase@reddit
Looks like an IBM i5-520
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/power5?topic=as400-9405-520-i5-520
Loan-Pickle@reddit
That is quite the find there. That is an IBM System i with a POWER5 CPU. System i is what this generation of AS/400 was called. They do have pretty good value on the second had market, depending on what features it is licensed for. With the correct licensing you can run i5/OS (OS/400), AIX, and Linux on them. Don’t erase the disks on this. If it has i5/OS you’ll want to preserve the install so you can get the license keys off of it. Looking at the pictures, this one looks pretty well equipped. It is good that you got the cables with it, don’t lose them. That weird looking connector on the card is slot 3 is used to connect to a PC running a 5250 emulator to connect to the system console. That cable can be hard to find.
If you don’t want to figure out how to get it running there are plenty of people that would interested in it.
zstroh@reddit (OP)
Shot you a message! Thanks again!
TtempredditT@reddit
Whoaaa, nice find! I've never seen a case like that
TtempredditT@reddit
Ah for a sec I forgot what you said in your post, didn't mean to ignore that it wasn't a sales post But how would you go about giving it away?
zstroh@reddit (OP)
No clue yet. Trying to figure out if it’s worth anything to anyone and go from there. Taking up some real estate in my utility room which I’m trying to clean up 😂
TtempredditT@reddit
Honestly my dad would be very likely interested in keeping this And we still have plenty of old hardware. Tbh I might wanna use it just to finally finally make use of an old keyboard. Uh forgot the brand but it has nice keys