S/390 goodness (was Re: [rescue] book score)

[Patrick Finnegan]

On Thursday 29 April 2004 17:26, Dave McGuire wrote:
> On Apr 29, 2004, at 6:19 PM, Patrick Finnegan wrote:
> >>> But do you have an S/360-decendent machine to go with them? : )
> >>
> >>    I have a P/390, and I *had* an S/390 G5...the guy I bought it
> >> from in Texas (and paid for it I might add) has disappeared.
> >
> > It was an honest question.  I didn't know if you did or didn't have
> > anything.  You know, a P/390 is still a PeeCee. :)
>
>    Umm, actually it is a PCI card sitting in a static bag in the
> closet.

Ahh.  I've never seen one outside of its controller PeeCee.  And then, 
only in pictures in ePay auctions.

> >   You should replace  that with an R/390, so you can feel better
> > about yourself.
>
>    I've been trying to find a decent PCI RS/6000 to run it in, but
> I'm not going to put much effort into it until I find the fucking
> software for the board.  Since my hopes have been repeatedly dashed
> in that effort, I'm just about ready to eBay the board.

Sadly, most of my "surplus" RS/6000s are MCA machines.  The few PCI 
machines I've got have uses.  From what I've read, the P/390 is the 
equivalent of a G2 S/390 on a board, with increased slowness.  You 
should upgrade to a real CMOS box like a 9672. :)  I guess that G5 
would qualify, but you should be able to get a G3 or G4 fairly cheaply.  
I think I've seen 1 or 2 of them on eBay that were in the southern East 
Coast.

> >>    I seem to remember your machine doesn't run, so don't gloat too
> >> much. ;)  Perhaps we should put our heads together and solve this
> >> "no functional ESA390-architecture mainframes in the gang"
> >> problem.
> >
> > I would very much like that. :)  Unfortunately, I'm nearly all out
> > of ideas.
>
>    Ideas?  We don't need ideas.  We need software. :)  Does your
> machine have DASD?

Ideas on how to get software... Also, ideas on how to configure them and 
what hardware is needed besides the processor, DASD, and a boot device.  
Like, is a 3270 controller necessary?

I was *supposed* to have DASD now, but (as I said in another email) the 
EMC 5700 I had only had SCSI host adaptors in it, and no ESCON boards, 
which to me seems quite retarded.  According to EMC, you have to pay 
for licensing to use a 5xxx for FC/SCSI, or to use a 3xxx for ESCON, 
but not if you use the 5xxx for ESCON or the 3xxx for FC/SCSI.  I have 
no idea why they would have had a 5700 instead of a 3700, unless they 
got screwed over by the sales rep and/or stupidity.

So, I'm back to looking for an ESCON PCI adaptor, or some other way of 
bootstrapping it.  I figure if nothing else I can get Linux booted with 
NFS root to play around with.  Not the best situation, but might end up 
being useful for $business, as it doesn't incur license fees and it's 
definitely the most stable hardware I own.  I still want to come up 
with a copy of OS/390 and VM/ESA + CMS to screw around with, and get 
somewhat accustomed with JCL, et al.

It'd be really nice if Sridhar would un-disappear right about now, with 
a copy of OS/390 or VM/ESA+CMS, but I wouldn't hold my breath for that.

Pat
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