Tom, that is fantastic news! I am surprised this has not been more publicized.
Your offer to help other folks is characteristically generous. Careful there - you'll spoil your rep. Cheers,,,Steve Steven F. Conway, CISSP AO-DTS- CTHO-HSD INFRASTRUCTURE (INFR) z/OS Systems Support Phone: 703-295-1926 Mobile: 703-402-2650 [email protected] From: Pinnacle <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Date: 08/06/2014 09:26 AM Subject: Rational Development and Test (RD&T) aka z/OS on a PC Sent by: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> I've been remiss in not posting this sooner on IBM-Main. I recently purchased Rational Development & Test (RD&T) from IBM, a product which allows anyone to run z/OS on Intel hardware. That's right, anyone. You do not have to own any big iron. Any high-schooler, college kid, z/OS professional, etc. can order this product and run z/OS on a PC platform. For ordering details, go to this link: http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/ratideveandtestenviforsystz There are two main pricing options, about 9K for the perpetual license with 15%/yr service renewal, or about 4K for a yearly fixed-term license. I chose the 9K option because I am definitely in this for the long haul. Before you start screaming "That's too expensive", take a look at what it costs for a yearly Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscription: http://www.visualstudio.com/products/how-to-buy-vs That's right folks, depending on your level of MSDN, z/OS is extremely competitive with MSDN from a price standpoint. You all know that I've never been shy about criticizing IBM when I disagree with them. I've been advocating for 15 years to create a Personal Use license for z/OS. Well folks, IBM came through for us, and they came through big time. RD&T IS the z/OS Personal Use license. Anyone can now run z/OS in the comfort of their own home. I've been running z/OS V1R13 on my own PC at home now for about 4 months, and I couldn't be happier with it. For those of you saying, "I can't afford it", my response would be "how can you not?". This is our livelihood, our careers. The investment you make in RD&T is an investment in your future. If you go through with the order, you will need to take one additional step that is not yet well-documented (IBM is fixing that). After purchasing RD&T, you will have what's called a Passport Advantage account. You'll need to sign on to that and process an order for Physical Media. This will order the USB license key dongle necessary to run RD&T on the zPDT emulator, and will also provide you a set of DVD's for the RD&T install. You can also download the RD&T software if you wish to begin installation immediately. The part number for the USB license key is: BA16UML. After ordering the physical media, you should have it within a day or two via 2-day air. Please let me know if you have any issues with ordering RD&T, and I'll do what I can to assist. You will also need a reasonable PC, and a Linux distribution to run on it. I got an Asus system with an i7 (6 core) processor, 16GB memory, 10GB Ethernet, 2 1TB hard drives for about 1K. Be sure to turn off hiperthreading in the BIOS, as that can cause CPU loops. For the Linux distribution, I recommend OpenSUSE (http://www.opensuse.org/en/), which is now fully-supported by IBM, or you can go with a supported package like RedHat or Suse. I run the Gnome desktop, but you can choose KDE if you like. After installing Linux, you would then unload the z/OS volumes, install the RD&T software (the zPDT emulation layer), enable your license key, and IPL. z/OS on your own home PC! I firmly believe that RD&T is a game-changer. It addresses so many of the needs discussed here in the past, recapturing mind share, making z/OS prevalent, addressing the skills shortage in a truly meaningful way, and assuring the future of the z/OS platform well into the 21st century. I'll be posting more about RD&T in the future. In the meantime, I'd recommend you go buy RD&T, or start budgeting to buy RD&T. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Regards, Tom Conley -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
