Is this on the main video console (monitor), or the serial console? Not that it matters I suppose, I'm just curious.

Try to get onto the serial console, you should be able to get onto the firmware and have a poke around.

I've got 5.1 running here, with a 400Mhz box with 1Gb ram. You can run anything from 4.3.3 to 5.3 on this box, so take your pick.

Main Video Console, via an ISA DVI video card with a VGA adaptor. I assume you need some form of serial connection to get into the console? Kind of like ethernet, but via serial?

I'm running 5.2 on mine @ 333 MHz and while not exactly speedy, it runs fine.

As for media, I often see media sets on ebay for about $20 - $25.

Again, I'd buy an original set, not a burned copy just in case your CD-ROM drive is fickle like mine.

You can use a windoze machine with HyperTerminal if you don't have access to a dumb terminal.

See this link: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=159640

what is a null modem? How about a "crossed cable"? Is that like a cross-over cable? Is there a way to acess the terminal via network(over TCP/IP)?

Is AIX really functional enough as a workstation? I know it was meant for production(servers and so forth, mine was used as a 3d modelling machine), but how does it work as a workstation as compared to a linux workstation?

hi, a null-modem cable is a serial cable, a bit like a vga cable but with 9 pins. attach it to the first serial port and use hyperterminal or my preference, teraterm. boot the 44p and keep an eye on the console. and, make sure the serial port settings are 9600, 8, n, 1. if you're new to all this, it sounds weird but you'll understand it more by doing it than talking about it.

as a workstation, aix on the 44p is cool. you won't get translucent xterms and such, but it will do the job if you want it to. there's a learning curve but i personally find it interesting. getting bash installed makes it much more bearable! get the rpm from the ibm site.

also, i'm surprised there's an isa video card with a dvi port, i thought those two technologies would have skipped each other. is this card even supported on your box? did you install it yourself? if so, that's probably a dead end. take it out, get a null modem cable for next to nothing and get on the serial console. the linux howto on this topic is a pretty good intro, but there are so many resources on this kind of thing it's untrue. any terms you're not sure about are literally seconds away on google. don't just stick to ibm sources, search for the terms you need to know about and hoover it up.

to abyss: i was worried about using burnt media for install, but i've got a decent set and they worked a charm. the firmware version on my cdrom drive must be the most recent one. it could be that the cds were burnt at 1 or 2x, rather than 48x, to ensure integrity. having said that, i will be getting myself official media for 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3. the install process is so different to linux, where you don't specify partitions and sizes! the partitions automatically grow to accomodate your data. different, but cool. i specified the 64-bit kernel to get a look at jfs2, cpu usage etc. what do you think about this approach? (i'm an aix newbie too

it was in there when I got it. Like I said, it was a 3d modelling station. It's an IBMGXT4000. You guys keep talking about burned media, is that like, pirated? How can you have an ISO copy of the installation media? Is it available for download? I thought AIX was proprietary.

I don't necesarilly want transparent xterms, or whatever, but I wonder about compatability with my other preferred software(firefox, gaim, etc.). I set the "console" in IBM OpenFirmware(while it's booting) to '2', the only option. Is there something special I need to do? How much does this null modem go for? Is there a way to access it via internet?

c'mon man, this is some extreme hand-holding. all the info you need is out there. null-modem cable, whether firefox runs on aix, all this is seconds away on google. you have to get stuck in and learn. i did, about 1 week before you. i'm a newbie too.

i'm not sure the legality of burnt (copied) media for aix, but i think each box comes with a license for personal use. i wouldn't worry about it, and no, the OS isn't available for download. i had to get it off someone, maybe you can too? if you're out of options let me know, i might be able to help.

yes, you're right. I have a tendency to check this thread, and it's more convenient. I'm at fault.

I'll need to lookk for a copy of AIX, I don't have the money right now for a copy of it(I'm in high school), so it may be a while. I'll look around.

Don't worry about it dude, at least you're adult enough to admit a fault. I wasn't flaming, no way.

You'll be surprised what happens when you get your mind fixed on something, even as trivial as locating some media. Sometimes, it just happens!

m/l,

The reason we keep referring to "burned media" is because there's a lot of it floating around out there. When you get an old RS/6000 off eBay, the person usually ships it with a burned copy of the AIX media with a disclaimer that it's up to the buyer to contact IBM for an appropriate license. Quite honestly, IBM is probably not that concerned about an RS sitting in your basement as long as it's not being used in a production environment. That's why people are loose with media sets. There's no license code, and nothing like "product activation." It will just install, no questions asked.

The only way to get new AIX media from IBM is to have a software support contract, for which you'd spend much $.

On the other hand, when you have a software suppport contract, every time a new ML comes out (again, an ML is a maintenance level, similar to a service pack; IBM now calls them TL for technology level) you can order an entirely new media set, with the updates built in, at no additional cost.

What does this mean? It means that I have AIX media sets for 5.2 at ML8 (the latest level), and also ML7, ML6, ML5, ML4, ML3, and ML2 (which was current when we started using 5.2). In some environments, the old media sets become as obsolete as coasters if all servers are being updated to the latest levels at regular intervals.

Find someone who actually works with AIX commercially, and try to trade them something for an old media set. Pizza is often something that geeks will trade things for. Coffee is another possibility. Heck, even pr0n might work.

I also completely agree with orsocio about you needing to do some digging here. It's not unreasonable for us to expect you to know how to use HyperTerminal or the like if you work with any type of *NIX systems. This is one of the unfortunate side effects of starting out with Linux but not being familiar with the *NIX roots from whence it came. Gotta read, man. We'll help you, but you gotta read.

Read up on terminals et. al., and keep posting. Best of luck!

orsocio,

I use the 64 bit kernel and jfs2 on my 44p (and my other 64-bit hardware at work) and have had no problems doing anything. I've seen people complaining about GCC not working well on AIX, but that hasn't been the case for me, even on the 64-bit 44p. At home I use bash, perl, GCC, OpenSSH, and many other open-source tools on AIX.

As to the way disk space is allocated, read up on the LVM. The LVM in AIX is your friend, and will let you do AMAZING things with the system still up. You can resize volumes, file systems, etc... on the fly, with the system still up and running.

For anyone starting out with AIX, IBM's Redbooks are an excellent source of info. They're freely downloadable in PDF format.

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/

There are many good ones, but I'd start with the Certification Study Guides by Pruett, Strickland, and Vetter. SG24-6191-00 is a good one to start. Go to the Redbooks site and search for that number. SG24-6199-00 is another. The newer one for 5.3, SG24-7199, is still in draft form and is too rough around the edges at this point (in my humble opinion) for me to recommend it.

They're relatively lengthy, so please print them double-sided. The planet is hot enough as it is.

Hard copies are available for purchase if you're feeling like spending money.

HTH

Cheers

Terminals et al....what exactly does that mean? Obviously serial terminals, but what else is different from linux to unix? I'm fairly comfortable with BASH and the Linux CLI, but I honestly don't even know where to start here. It really is almost like starting over again. I'm very willing to learn, but a push in the right direction would be allowed. I've got a working installation, as far as I know, I just can't get to a log in screen. Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.

Well, seeing as I'm only 17, I only have access to two of those three. I'll let you decide which ones I'm talking about

Great stuff abyss, thanks a lot i grabbed the cert study guides a little while ago, i'll get round to reading them. and i like to print ecologically too

m/l, looks like you got a bargain to make :P

ps. a clue about terminals - the one you normally use is xterm, or xterm-color, but there are many more. you may find that some apps like vi, screen etc. fail to work due to terminal settings. don't worry about it, but you will knock into this eventually when playing with unix boxes. not hugely interesting to me, but it helps to be aware of it.

take it easy.

m/l,

Start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_terminal

And see this short article on HyperTerminal specifically:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilgraeve

Getting straight to the point, people use HyperTerminal to connect to many different devices over serial connections. You may be able to use it to make a connection to your 44p and see more info than what's being displayed on the monitor. In other words, the output being sent to the monitor may differ from the output sent to the "console" which may be defined as a serial terminal, not a monitor. You can specify during an install whether you want to use the monitor or a serial console. You can also change this...once you get into your system.

I'd guess that the most popular use of HT these days is to connect to networking equipment. For example, you plug a null-modem serial cable (mentioned earlier in the thread) into the serial port on the back of a laptop and the other end into a serial connection on a router or switch. You can then manage the device in an interactive session over the serial connection. This is usually referred to as the "console." If your terminal settings are correct (see notes on emulation in the Wikipedia article) some keystroke combination will bring up a login prompt, you log in, and then you manage the device in a similar fashion to working with Linux at the CLI.

Again, this is over a SERIAL connection, not over ethernet or other network connections. It takes a direct connection via serial ports and cabling. Hyperterminal has been included with Windows since way back, so many people have used it and could probably give you a 5-minute tutorial that would be worth more than 1000 words I could type. Once you see it work, you'd get it.

Also, if you don't have a machine with a serial connection (e.g., modern laptops don't normally have them), you can get a USB to serial converter for a few bucks. They can be a pain sometimes, but they do the job.

Finally, building on what orsocio said before, when you log into a Linux box in a gui, and then open a terminal window to get the CLI, you're emulating the old-school serial connections that used to be commonly made to UNIX boxes. Many people still use terminals, btw. When you go to a warehouse to pick something up and the person looks it up on a small monochrome monitor with the brand name WYSE on it, that's a "dumb" terminal, not a standalone computer. It's a serial connection back to the UNIX box in the back somewhere.

Hope that helps! At least it's a start....