Enzo, Congratulations on your acquisition!
I’m curious if you happen to know yet the physical model (it’ll be either 2818-M05 or 2818-M10) and general capacity details, notably the capacity model, number/type(s) of specialty engines (if any; IFLs, zIIPs, ICFs), and memory configuration. The capacity model is a letter (A to Z), the number 0, and a number 0 to 5. For example, Q02. [A00 would be unfortunate since that’d mean no general purpose engines (CPs) are configured. If it’s a Z05 you won this lottery, but really any CP capacity is fine for a home lab.] Also, have you figured out yet what features you have installed in the I/O slots? As I think I mentioned, if you have a 2818-M10 and/or lots of I/O features you might be able to (unofficially, after very careful study) field modify the physical configuration so that you’re powering fewer components to reduce electricity consumption and heat output in your home lab. But if you have a -M05 with just a few I/O features then this’ll be a moot point. I wonder if the machine has any Crypto Express adapters. I really like the suggestion to visit the z/VM conference if you can. There are bound to be many curious and knowledgeable people there. If 21st Century Software happens to be at that conference then you could ask them about VSEn 6.3 if that interests you. There’s also a mainframe conference coming up at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, from June 12 to 14, if convenient. https://ecc.marist.edu/web/conference2022 Operating systems that do not require ECKD/FICON-attached storage (technically, leaving any licensing issues aside): Linux, z/VM, z/VSE, VSEn. Possibly also MUSIC/SP, as a guest of z/VM anyway, but I’m guessing a bit. I think you can start the z/OS Customized Offerings Driver without actually having any attached storage, but then you can’t do that much with it. Operating systems that require ECKD/FICON-attached storage: z/OS, z/TPF. (z/TPF is even a little more particular about minimum storage configurations. I believe it requires some physical or virtual tape as well.) There are some bootable “mini things” that people don’t generally consider operating systems but that do serve useful functions. Standalone IOCP and Jan Jaeger’s ZZSA are two good examples. Good luck, and please keep us posted. — — — — — Timothy Sipples Senior Architect Digital Assets, Industry Solutions, and Cybersecurity IBM zSystems/LinuxONE, Asia-Pacific [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
