OS/400 Overview
OS/400 was released alongside the AS/400s in 1988 as the new updated operating system. It also had compatibility with System/36 and System/38: so systems could easily be migrated. The twinaxial connectors were also adopted from the early System/36es to the AS/400s (which may have seemed unusual in the late 90's).
Installing OS/400
When setting up to reinstall OS/400, there's two options, automatic and manual.