"Day Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Bob George wrote:
> > [...]
> > Actually, I don't think they've gone away at all. There's mention of gcc
> > ebcdic handling on the Linux S/390 pages
> > (http://linas.org/linux/i370.html) -- Linux on IBM mainframes -- and the
IBM
> > AS/400 OS (OS/400) (very much alive) is also ebcdic based according to
> > http://www.as400.ibm.com/developer/porting/faq5.html . I saw notes on
> > porting the Apache web server to ebcdic-based environments as well.
> I can see where the files might be around, paper tape would
> last a long time, but the platform? what for? Like he said,
> the software which works on an x86 is around which could
> handle it, so why bother?
Well, the AS/400 is still very much an active platform. And IBM's
"mainframes" are still around, especially in big database environments
(airlines etc.) Although smaller machines have done a lot for the individual
desktop, there are still some niches for the big guys, although those are
admittedly dwindling as Sun and others progress. They have evolved
considerably, and the last I saw was a honeybee black and yellow IBM
"mainframe" that was the size of a 19 inch standalone rack.
Just like a PC, if you have an older machine that still does what you need,
why "must" it be discarded? I think it's especially cool that Linux is
breathing new life into older platforms, whether they be PC, mini or
mainframe. Certainly not my bag, though!
- Bob
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