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Does anyone here have experience with programming IBM 4690 OS? What is a good way to get started? Any recommendations for where to purchase or lease a machine?

Edwin Evans
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    Just wondering, is this for recreational purposes? Sounds fun. – xikkub Jan 21 '12 at 17:38
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    Just commenting here for posterity. Have had 24 years experience programming for IBM 4680/4690/ACE. We have always had a High-C compiler from Digital Research. Copies can probably be found on Ebay. Like the answer below states, start with the programming guide. Programming in "C" for these is not trivial. For example, there is no fopen() call available. Try to use the FlexOS API calls whenever possible, and only fall back to the ADX* calls if you have to. It's essentially multitasking DOS, folks - there's not even a swap file. The word "POS" doesn't always mean "point-of-sale":) – Code4aliving Nov 07 '15 at 07:17

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Oh boy. I feel like I need to know a little bit of what you're shooting for. Have lots of experience on 4690 in a big retailer environment.

Typically if you're talking 4690, you're on a decently sized retailer running one of a number of products. SA, GSA, Ace typically. Some older retailers have other stuff, and one or two run their customer applications. If I knew which environment you're looking at, I can give a little better direction.

Several products still run on HIGHC CBasic. Might be fun tracking down that compiler. Not sure if you can even buy licenses for it anymore, but most retailers that work on this have it.

"Newer" products run on C. Either HIGHC 16-bit C ( mostly gone ), or on an older version of the VisualAge C compiler.

If you're going on Java, you're good there.

As to finding a machine. Ebay. If you need a full out register, you probably need some of the devices as well. Typically you need a keyboard ( 50 or 67 key keyboards are pretty defauct ), display ( PC or small 2x20 displays depending upon retailer ), scanner ( couple providers that create these ).

Trying to get access to the compilers is probably the most difficult piece.

Brent
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