[rescue] IBM on ebay

[James Lockwood]

On Mon, 13 May 2002 dave at cca.org wrote:

> Ah....
>
> Did it emulate the IO processors?

Only at a very superficial level and all in software.  You couldn't write
channel controller code of any nature.

I believe Cory Hamasaki of 'frame fame did a writeup on it many years ago,
but I'm having trouble finding it.  He does have an XT/370 (the 8-bit ISA
version).

> Did IBM fab the mutant 68K, or did Moto do it?

Says Motorola on the package, though who really knows.  Only difference
between the package of the two 68K's on the board is the mask IDs.

> So you could put a 390 CPU in an RS/6000, and use the POWER CPU as
> an IO processor for the 390... Deja Vu!

Yep.  I greatly prefer hosting MVS under AIX to OS/2.  :)

Other interesting older "microframes" are of course the microchannel P/370
board (no ESA of course) and the PS/2 sized box (4301?).  Older aircooled
ES9000s are basically free if you're in the right place at the right time.

To those of you looking to get one of these systems up and running, don't
downplay the availability of freely available MVT.  True, it's ancient,
but it comes with a raft of useful development tools.

-James