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Both AIX (until 4.3.3) and Windows NT (until 4.0sp1) run very well on this machine. Windows development on PowerPC has stopped. AIX doesn't support newer PC-like hardware. So I work on Linux.
Things that work are:You may download the kernel and write it on a floppy disk with dd if=zImage.prep of=/dev/fd0 bs=18k. After booting the kernel asks for a second floppy-disk. This can be the minimal filesystem mentioned later. You may also experiment with so called root-disks from various distributions to install a complete working linux on your 7020. Known to work are ramdisk.image.gz from RedHat 7.1 if your machine has at least 48 Mb of RAM or you are using CD-ROM install method and debian root.bin with some manual operation.
The filesystem I'm using is minimal and will fit on a 1.44 floppy. You may boot into this environment, get a root-shell, setup network, partition sda, mount filesystems including msdos-floppies. You may also find a running telnetd to connect to this environment. IP-configuration is done by pump. So you have to setup a dhcpd in your environment and assign the hardware address of your 40p an ip-number to connect to the telnetd. So you may be able to install your favourite distribution.
Chapter 1.6.3 of managing aix gives you an overview about the firmware. They have forgotten to mention, that this firmware is a form of primitive operating system that runs from flash ram. You can reach this with the following steps:
| apart | apart [1-4] Alters default active partition selection. |
| beep | beep [tone value [time value]] Cause a tone to be emitted. The frequency is determined by the tone_value. The length of the tone is determined by the time_value. |
| blocks | blocks This command draws random blocks, in random colors, on the display. |
| break | break {hex-address | list | off} [{it | noit}] This command sets an instruction fetch breakpoint. The processor stops before the instruction is executed. List lists the current breakpoint. Clear removes a breakpoint. it/noit is valid for 604 processor only. 604 compares MSR(IT) to the it/noit state in addition to the address. |
| call | call hex-address Control is transferred to the location specified. |
| cls | |
| copy | |
| cd | |
| chdir | |
| cmos | |
| debug | debug Prefixing a normal command line with "debug" causes a breakpoint to be set at the entry of the command being debugged. This only works for external commands. For example, to set a breakpoint at the beginning of BMP.6XE, enter: debug bmp sample.bmp |
| dir | |
| dump | |
| disasm | |
| date | |
| dc | dc dc toggles the active debug console. |
| echo | |
| erase | |
| exit | |
| fdisk | fdisk [decimal-drive-id] Create a DOS partition on disk. |
| fill | |
| font | |
| frba | read address drive RBA [count] Read data from a diskette or hard file. All parameters are specified in hex. The count defaults to 1 if not specified. Drive is specified the same as a PC (ie. 0=A, 1=B, 0x80=C, 0x81=D..). RBA is zero-based. |
| go | |
| goto | |
| help | |
| hex | hex hex-string1 hex-string2 Computes the sum and difference between two hex numbers. |
| in | in hex-address Performs an I/O read to Dakota I/O Space (0x80000000 is added to the address). The default is to run an 8 bit cycle. To run a 16 bit cycle, use: in16 hex-address To run a 32 bit cycle, use: in32 hex-address |
| load | |
| md | |
| mfgdiags | mfgdiags Runs diagnostics in manufacturing (box test) mode. |
| mkdir | |
| mode | |
| monitor | |
| nvram | |
| out | out hex-address hex-data Performs an I/O write to Dakota I/O Space (0x80000000 is added to the address). The default is to run an 8 bit cycle. To run a 16 bit cycle, use: out16 hex-address hex-data To run a 32 bit cycle, use: out32 hex-address hex-data |
| pstep | |
| rd | |
| read | |
| regs | |
| reboot | reboot Transfers control to the reset vector in high memory 0xfff00100. |
| rename | |
| rem | |
| rmdir | |
| step | |
| search | |
| sleep | |
| sregs | |
| time | |
| type | |
| test | test This is a test routine. Is function will vary, so there is no real help. |
| vdisk | vdisk decimal-size-in-bytes Create a VDISK, VDISK 0 eliminates an existing VDISK. |
| write | |
| iat_dskt | |
| iat_mem | |
| iat_scsi |