8 Dec
2005
8 Dec
'05
1:30 p.m.
Folks --
Has anyone tried creating mainframe compatible DASD with commodity
components? I now have an S/390, but am trying to pare it back to a
fighting weight (one that'll fit the electrical limitations of my flat).
The DASD are monster 14" platters with 400MB capacity each --
9332-Model400. And the system requires 5 of them with its current
configuration. I was wondering if there was a way to adapt the system to
more modest disk types much way as has been done with some of the recent
PDP re-implementations with flash and 2.5" IDE. Any thoughts?
While we're at it, I'm still interested in offloading two of my IO cabinets
and a bunch of COM controller feature cards. I haven't had any takers so
far.
Thanks,
Colin Eby -- ceby2 at csc.com
CSC - EMEA Northern Region - C&SI -Technology Architect
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8 Dec
8 Dec
2:24 p.m.
Colin Eby wrote:
Folks --
Has anyone tried creating mainframe compatible DASD with commodity
components? I now have an S/390, but am trying to pare it back to a
fighting weight (one that'll fit the electrical limitations of my flat).
The DASD are monster 14" platters with 400MB capacity each --
9332-Model400. And the system requires 5 of them with its current
configuration. I was wondering if there was a way to adapt the system to
more modest disk types much way as has been done with some of the recent
PDP re-implementations with flash and 2.5" IDE. Any thoughts?
While we're at it, I'm still interested in offloading two of my IO cabinets
and a bunch of COM controller feature cards. I haven't had any takers so
far.
DASD isn't a requisite of using a mainframe. Just use minidisks. DASD
is mostly used for data storage. Although there are a lot of setups out
there that IPL from DASD, I would venture to say that most setups IPL
from minidisk. Not that most setups IPL that often.
Which type/model S/390 do you have?
BTW, a 9332 DASD is significantly older than any S/390. It came out
around 1985 or 1986. It's not much of a match for the S/390,
considering the disks hold less than a GB apiece. It even pre-dates
ES/9000 by a few years. I would guess that they were most popular with
later-generation S/370's like the 3084 and 3090, and maybe even with
smaller compatible machines like the 4381.
Peace... Sridhar
2:48 p.m.
BTW, a 9332 DASD is significantly older than any
S/390. It came out
around 1985 or 1986. It's not much of a match for the S/390,
considering the disks hold less than a GB apiece. It even pre-dates
ES/9000 by a few years. I would guess that they were most popular with
later-generation S/370's like the 3084 and 3090, and maybe even with
smaller compatible machines like the 4381.
DASD to the 9370 (the bomb), correct?
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org
2:57 p.m.
William Donzelli wrote:
Sounds right. It's the right size machine. The only thing I don't know
is when the 9370 was withdrawn.
Peace... Sridhar
BTW, a 9332
DASD is significantly older than any S/390. It came out
around 1985 or 1986. It's not much of a match for the S/390,
considering the disks hold less than a GB apiece. It even pre-dates
ES/9000 by a few years. I would guess that they were most popular with
later-generation S/370's like the 3084 and 3090, and maybe even with
smaller compatible machines like the 4381.
DASD to the 9370 (the bomb), correct?
9:40 p.m.
William Donzelli wrote:
If the 9370 was withdrawn between 1990 and 1995, it would be too new,
and if it was withdrawn between 1975 and 1980 (which I seriously doubt
-- I think it's newer) than it's too old.
It's very much possible that it's the right age.
Peace... Sridhar
Sounds right.
It's the right size machine. The only thing I don't know
is when the 9370 was withdrawn.
Not soon enough? 
10:25 p.m.
Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
machines such as the 9221 could have had older dasd on them from being
upgrades of 9370s. I checked with a friend who I worked with in the 86
to 90
timeframe, where we had a 9370-90, and it was upgraded to a 9221 to get
XA and ESA architechure, to allow OS debug.
We had a 4381-91 with ESA but required some of the features on the 9221
to fully test what customers had.
The systems had 9335 as well as 9332 from earlier upgrades. We ran either
VM or our own OS at the time, both on FBA. We used CKD, but preformatted
it with fixed 4k sectors to essentially be an "FBA" type DASD, as we
didnt do
keying.
for more on DASD, I found this site with lots of nice info:
http://www.sdisw.com/vm/dasd_capacity.html
Jim
8 Dec
8 Dec
3:05 p.m.
On Thursday 08 December 2005 14:24, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
DASD isn't a requisite of using a mainframe. Just
use minidisks.
DASD is mostly used for data storage. Although there are a lot of
setups out there that IPL from DASD, I would venture to say that most
setups IPL from minidisk. Not that most setups IPL that often.
Pardon my ignorance, but how do you have minidisks without some DASD to
put them on?
Pat
--
Purdue University Research Computing --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
3:44 p.m.
Patrick Finnegan wrote:
On Thursday 08 December 2005 14:24, Sridhar Ayengar
wrote:
There's actually a couple of ways. You can do it through the front-end,
and you can do it over a SAN.
Peace... Sridhar
DASD isn't a requisite of using a mainframe.
Just use minidisks.
DASD is mostly used for data storage. Although there are a lot of
setups out there that IPL from DASD, I would venture to say that most
setups IPL from minidisk. Not that most setups IPL that often.
Pardon my ignorance, but how do you have minidisks without some DASD to
put them on?
3:45 p.m.
Patrick Finnegan wrote:
On Thursday 08 December 2005 14:24, Sridhar Ayengar
wrote:
Oh. I almost forgot. You can also boot VM from tape and create a
virtual minidisk in storage.
Peace... Sridhar
DASD isn't a requisite of using a mainframe.
Just use minidisks.
DASD is mostly used for data storage. Although there are a lot of
setups out there that IPL from DASD, I would venture to say that most
setups IPL from minidisk. Not that most setups IPL that often.
Pardon my ignorance, but how do you have minidisks without some DASD to
put them on?
9 Dec
9 Dec
10:20 p.m.
Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
Patrick Finnegan wrote:
Oh. I almost forgot. You can also boot VM from tape and create a
virtual minidisk in storage.
Peace... Sridhar
I dont think even the starter system is very happy w/o some sort of
dasd, and certainly not
very useful. maybe you could illuminate where such a tape comes from
and what is
genned into it, etc?
6871
days inactive
6873
days old
10 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
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aw288＠osfn.org -
ceby2＠csc.com -
jwstephens＠msm.umr.edu -
pat＠computer-refuge.org -
ploopster＠gmail.com