Now I haven't powered it up since I got it... over ten years ago now! But
in my basement I have a no-brand vanilla PC... which allegedly has special
internal IBM software on it, which allows the user to low-level reformat
standard IBM drives to have 524 byte sectors for mainframe use; it was
given to me for this specific purpose.
I'll drag it out and test it at some point!
Mike
On Jul 4, 2015 7:55 PM, "Guy Sotomayor" <ggs at shiresoft.com> wrote:
It?s been a while, so I thought I?d update folks on
what?s been going on
with my IBM Multiprise 3000 S/390 mainframe. I?ve updated the webpage for
it at:
http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid
<http://www.shiresoft.com/new-shop/Shiresoft/IBM_Mainframe.html#grid> to
indicate it?s current status.
I?ve managed to boot it up into the version of z/OS (V1R5) that was
installed. I discovered that some of the standard users were still present
with their default passwords so I was able to log in and do stuff under
TSO. I also figured out that one of the standard users had administrative
capabilities, so I?m able to fully manage z/OS and make the changes
necessary to have it work in my environment and to be able to perform any
administrative tasks that I might need to perform.
I?ve configured the OS/2 side of things to be on my home network, so I can
at lead use one of the various tn3270 programs to log in rather than having
to sit as the OS/2 screen and do things. I also reconfigured my 3174
controller so that it could ?talk? to the MP3000 so I can also use my 3179
terminals to log in (which IMHO are much better than the tn3270 programs).
During all of this I acquired 8 more 18GB SSA drives so I have enough for
a second 72GB array with some spares. I felt really fortunate to have
found these drives as they are in no way standard (524 byte sectors) and
you need the special carriers to work properly in the MP3000. Not to
mention that they are SSA drives!
I have put the drives into the MP3000 but have yet to configure them for
use. During the checkout of the drives, I discovered that the drive that
had been assigned for the ?hot spare? was dead. One of my next tasks will
be to assign one of the new drives as the ?hot spare?.
Since I have most things working now, I moved the MP3000 into a more
convenient location in my office (see picture on the above link) rather
than being in the middle of the traffic area of my shop.
I?m still going to be doing some ?tinkering? with z/OS before I really
knuckle down to (re)learn the various aspects of MVS and TSO. Then off to
write some mainframe programs!
TTFN - Guy