I had been playing and working with computers since I was 15 and started at school with a Tandy TRS-80. I bought my first computer (Acorn Atom) 2 years later,  my first 16 bit system (Atari Mega ST1) 2 years after that, and my first PC (80486, 16Mhz, 4Mb, 120 Mb disk) 2 years after that.

I met the AS/400 in 1990 when I got a freelance gig at a large chemical site. They had a model E45. I loved the command structure and its uniqueness. But, for a long time, that was all for me.

Several years later I was able to buy an old AS/400 (9402-400) on a Dutch, Ebay-like, website. Finding out, once I had it, that I had no idea what to do with it. It came with 10 x 2Gb discs (that would spin up one after the other) and if I requested a harddisc report it could tell me it would take 2.9 hours to finish.

Again a few years later I was able to buy another one, an AS/400e (model 9401-150). More speed, and somewhat easier to move around to exhibitions than the first one. During this time I met a few guys who had been working with AS/400’s professionally and I was able to acquire a few more terminals and at some point even a whole lot of original soft- and hardware.

At this point I thought there should be an AS/400 museum, and why not start one? So here it is, for the whole world to see. Maybe stuff will happen with it, maybe not. Who knows? It has been an adventure for me since 1990 and it will probably stay an adventure.

Thank you for reading.

Warm regards,
Jeroen Baten