S/390 according to Vic

What's S/390?

It's what most people call a mainframe. It's serious "playtime is over" hardware. It's an operating system called OS/390, which runs REAL BUSINESS. And now, it's got Linux as well, for the fun stuff. It's what just about every other computer system wants to be when it grows up. Power. Security. "Nine-nines" reliability -- the definition of continuous computing.

IBM S/390 Home Page.

During 6 years of sys-progging, I've picked up knowledge of MVS, JES, enough JCL to get me out of trouble (and into it!), SMPE (ditto!), and all the network stuff (whatever it's called this quarter). I think Parallel Sysplex is the best thing since sliced bread -- Beowulf is great for the Grand Challenge problems, but business isn't like that. And, when (if?) clustering for Windows NT/2000 eventually stabilises, S/390 will have been doing it for years!
In this area, I'll put links to the resources and hints that help me get the job done -- it's a work in progress.
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Hercules

The text I originally had for this section appears below:
I'm getting involved in a small community of 'dinosaurs' working with a S/370 and S/390 emulator called Hercules, which runs under Linux. Building and running an operating system which was designed before I was born, on today's hardware, has given me a great amount of pleasure, and my praise, thanks, and utmost respect go out to the team who built, maintain, and improve it.

Compare that to the rave on the front page!

I really like Hercules. But you probably guessed that already.

Hercules Home Page.

P/390

I have obtained a processor card and host server to make my own P/390. P/390, I hear you ask? It's a S/390 CMOS processor chip on a daughter card for a PC server. You run OS/2 on the server, and special device driver software to provide emulated devices for the S/390 processor on the card.

IBM used to have a P/390 Home Page, but it's a waste of time now. I'll add some proper P/390 links here soon!
My P/390 Build.

S390-hobbyist

So what does one do with a mainframe at home? Well, one learns more about the environment and the platform, for a start (see Hercules above). It is a bit difficult if the makers of the operating system for the hardware don't believe in 'trial versions' and 'hobbyist usage'. That's why I started the S390-hobbyist eGroup. In Victopia (and that's NOT a typo for a southern state of Australia!), OS/390 is available under a 'hobbyist' license, allowing anyone to set up a development system under Hercules or on a P/390 at no cost. The group is to provide a forum on whether this could come to pass.

In fact, the current maintainer of Hercules has been asked to write a White Paper on the very topic. We eagerly await the outcome...

In the meantime, I can still use my P/390 to run Linux for S/390, and early IBM mainframe systems like MVT.

S390-hobbyist eGroup

Linux for S/390

Did he say Linux for S/390? Yes, he did. Check it out: it's cool! There are plenty of things that IBM has done to demonstrate a commitment to Linux, but this has got to be the biggest. Like: how many Linux images can run on a single box? Try nearly 100,000! It's called Linux Virtual Image Facility, and it's part of IBM's push to have Linux on S/390 recognised as a viable platform.

IBM's main Linux on S/390 page.
SuSE and TurboLinux will produce distributions in cooperation with IBM.
Marist College in the US is an active participant in the port, and have some good information on running Linux on S/390.
Princeton did a lot of early work in running Linux under VM, but a lot of good general information too. You can also get a pre-built Linux for OS/390 system you can run under Hercules!