I hadn't known about zPD&T student edition. I had only known about the personal edition, which last time I checked was close to 6k per year. The learner's edition looks pretty interesting however. The unit in question still has it's SEs intact, and the seller claims that it was pulled out of service in working condition, and hasn't been modified since. The z114 can be fed from standard 220v power, and will pull around 9A. In terms of cooling, I am planning to keep it in my enclosed garage. The space is within the IBM spec for humidity and temperature, and the space is usually quite cold, so I am hoping to leverage the passive cooling. I am definitely standing on the cliff, and trying to decide weather or not my parachute will hold. Thanks for the info. ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of Grant Taylor <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2022 10:46 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: HS student with question about small mainframe DASD
On 4/15/22 6:35 PM, Enzo D'Amato wrote: > Nothing in particular about the z114, other than the seller is offering > it to me at an unbeatable price. Okay. You have passed the "you've been informed" and "you have an idea what you're biting off" gates. That's my concern as someone else in the hobby. I too would probably be very interested in a ... let's go with ... full sized mainframe (CEC) if the price was good enough. > 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 question the veracity of that. Though there is a chance that you can acquire the CEC itself for less than a year of zD&T Personal / Learners Edition. But that's just the CEC. That doesn't say anything about powering / cooling said CEC, much less any DASD. Unfortunately, I think the DASD and / or cooling / power is going to be the real big unknown expense. > I am also hoping to learn more about the 'care and feeding' of the > hardware. That definitely speaks the the physical hardware that you can get your hands on. Regarding the physical hardware, does the CEC in question come with the Service Elements? (I assume that the z114 has a pair of SEs.) Without the SEs, the CEC is probably going to be ... problematic. -- If the SEs are physically there, check to see if they have their hard drives in them and if they boot. I have no idea if there is any power up procedure that you could do quickly at the seller's location. Though, if we're talking $100 ~ $200 and the SEs are there and boot, I'd probably be tempted to take it as is. If nothing else, you can mess with the physical hardware and potentially part things out / scrap / ewaste things after you're done messing with it. That is if it turns out to not be enough of a functioning system. If it is a functioning system, someone else who does have DASD (and can't / won't part with said DASD) might acquire the CEC from you in the future. > I agree that there are certainly concerns, which is why I am posting > here :-). *nod* As long as you have an idea of the cliff that you are standing at the edge of. You research the potential the risk / rewards and make your own judgement call. Which, it sounds like you are doing. Here's hoping that it's a fully functional z114 with it's SEs fully functional and that you can get the entire thing for a song plus hauling it off. :-D -- 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
