Nothing in particular about the z114, other than the seller is offering it to me at an unbeatable price. In terms of the zD&T, I have messed around in Hercules before, and it would probably be more expensive than buying the unit that I am looking at. I am also hoping to learn more about the 'care and feeding' of the hardware. I agree that there are certainly concerns, which is why I am posting here :-). ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of Grant Taylor <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2022 6:58 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: HS student with question about small mainframe DASD
On 4/15/22 3:32 PM, Enzo D'Amato wrote: > Hello. Hi, > I am a US high school student who is seriously considering acquiring a > z114 mainframe. I hope that I don't come off too wrong when I ask, but why do you want a z114? -- I completely get wanting a mainframe. -- But why a z114? Or, perhaps more accurately, why a z114 over a zD&T? Is there something specific to the z114 that appeals to you more than other IBM mainframes? Don't get me wrong, I think that owning a big big iron box would be very appealing. I just think that caring for (equiping), feeding (powering), and cleaning up after (cooling) it is probably a big task. > I have found a listing selling one for a price that I think > is reasonable, and I have determined that I can meet the space, > transportation and power requirements for the machine. These are just some of the hurtles that I think having a physically big system. > I did however have one question before I continued. I know in Connor > Krukosky's talk, his biggest issue was finding DASD for the machine. This is yet another BIG problem. I know of multiple people that have a CEC but don't have DASD for their CEC. As such, their CEC is of relatively limited use for them. > I have looked, and it appears that proper ficon DASD is still rare. My > situation is not quite as significant as Connor's , as my machine > has SCSI IPL as a native feature. Despite this, I wanted to know if > anyone here could give some advice on the topic. Would the machine > still provide a good learning experience with just FBA storage? Others are WAY more qualified to speak to this than I am. > Thank you for any information that you can provide I hope that you'll take my "why a z114" question in the light spirit it is intended. I would encourage you to spend some time looking at the zD&T (family of) product(s) as I suspect it might be a much more accessible entry point into the IBM mainframe ecosystem. I also say this because I would be ... disheartened to end up in a position like Connor et al. wherein I purchased a system to later learn that there was a different option to ... simplify introduction to the ecosystem. Perhaps I'm completely wrong and you are very well versed in IBM mainframes. If that is the case, I humbly apologize and will see myself out. Best of luck to you and your endeavors. :-) -- Grant. . . . unix || die ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
