Now I haven't powered it up since I got it... over ten years ago now! But in my basement I have a no-brand vanilla PC... which allegedly has special internal IBM software on it, which allows the user to low-level reformat standard IBM drives to have 524 byte sectors for mainframe use; it was given to me for this specific purpose.
I'll drag it out and test it at some point! Mike On Jul 4, 2015 7:55 PM, "Guy Sotomayor" <[email protected]> wrote: > It’s been a while, so I thought I’d update folks on what’s been going on > with my IBM Multiprise 3000 S/390 mainframe. I’ve updated the webpage for > it at: http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid > <http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid> to > indicate it’s current status. > > I’ve managed to boot it up into the version of z/OS (V1R5) that was > installed. I discovered that some of the standard users were still present > with their default passwords so I was able to log in and do stuff under > TSO. I also figured out that one of the standard users had administrative > capabilities, so I’m able to fully manage z/OS and make the changes > necessary to have it work in my environment and to be able to perform any > administrative tasks that I might need to perform. > > I’ve configured the OS/2 side of things to be on my home network, so I can > at lead use one of the various tn3270 programs to log in rather than having > to sit as the OS/2 screen and do things. I also reconfigured my 3174 > controller so that it could “talk” to the MP3000 so I can also use my 3179 > terminals to log in (which IMHO are much better than the tn3270 programs). > > During all of this I acquired 8 more 18GB SSA drives so I have enough for > a second 72GB array with some spares. I felt really fortunate to have > found these drives as they are in no way standard (524 byte sectors) and > you need the special carriers to work properly in the MP3000. Not to > mention that they are SSA drives! > > I have put the drives into the MP3000 but have yet to configure them for > use. During the checkout of the drives, I discovered that the drive that > had been assigned for the “hot spare” was dead. One of my next tasks will > be to assign one of the new drives as the “hot spare”. > > Since I have most things working now, I moved the MP3000 into a more > convenient location in my office (see picture on the above link) rather > than being in the middle of the traffic area of my shop. > > I’m still going to be doing some “tinkering” with z/OS before I really > knuckle down to (re)learn the various aspects of MVS and TSO. Then off to > write some mainframe programs! > > TTFN - Guy
