[rescue] AS/400 question

[vance at neurotica.com]

On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, Dave McGuire wrote:

> >>    I wish there was some more info about these machines online.  IBM
> >> seems to take great pains to make sure nobody gets any use out of
> >> their hardware without their staff (and lots of $$$) being involved.
> >> Some of us just want to learn about it and appreciate their
> >> designs...it's not like we'd be eating into their profits or
> >> anything.
> >
> > There's still info about this particular machine available, because
> > IBM still sells them.
>
>    I meant the kind of info that'd be required to port a free
> OS...architecture specs, hardware FAQs, how to get one from a surplus
> house and get it running, etc.  IBM will *never* publish info like that.

IBM publishes the assembler programming guide for these machines.  That
should help, no?  It contains info on the instruction set, including
formats and indirection, firmware specs, and stuff like that.

Peace...  Sridhar