I didn't see any replies to your question. (But I have some filtering in place. Sorry if I missed anything.)
> Sorry, but I'm trying to learn and am beginning to realize I really know > nothing about these beasts. Sounds like you have a physical S/390 since you mention the SE laptop. There is a way for some S/390 systems to present files on CD as if they were files on tape. This is clearly true for P/390, Multiprise, and IS class machines. Dunno about yours. What kind of S/390 do you have? What OS is it running right now? INCIDENTALLY, there is no architectural reason why an S/390 could not boot directly from CD-ROM. One type of mainframe disk is "FBA" and a CD is just that: fixed block architecture. The more common disk for mainframes is CKD or ECKD which does not present fixed blocks to the I/O subsystem. CKD has its own strengths, but I maintain that IBM has let us (customers) down by not better supporting FBA, especially w/r/t CD-ROM. The big money reason for retaining CKD (or for downplaying FBA) is that MVS (and its children, ie: z/OS) never learned to use FBA. But z/VM, and Linux, and VSE are all happy with either FBA or CKD or a combination. -- R;
