It's a lot cheaper in to do this in the US and with a long term view, my total outlay was under $3000 for a z800, z114, ds6800 all in with transportation. I also temporarily had two DS8870s but resold them because they were worth a lot more than I paid and I will pick up another for cheaper over the course of this year. Both of my frames have HMCs, the z114 was even IBM banded and "MSQ" maintenance service qualified which means they'd come and set it back up for some not-too-outrageous monthly fee if it were in production use.
The z800/z890 are probably optimal for hobby use even though they are old because they have modest power requirements and are relatively light and not too wide like the z114 which is absolutely massive.
Actually a P/390 (MCA or PCI card), or Multiprise 3000 (deskside hybrid CMOS/PC server thing) would be even easier but those are very very old 31-bit systems at this point. (I also have a R/390 setup and can comment on that if desired)
Now that said, this requires A LOT of dedication to get right. You need to understand at minimum shipping/transport issues, as well as electrical requirements and installation (or be willing to consult someone that can advise you on phase and conversion if necessary).
After that, you definitely need an HMC (a PC used to do things like load the OS) or at least a recovery disk and a lot of patience to set that up in emulation or on other hardware.
And then, you need a FICON (or older ESCON) capable array. Connor Krukosky goes into detail about what it's like without that, and you are extremely limited (basically Linux) in what you can do without FICON. A ds6800 is the easiest way to do that because it is a small rackmount unit, but they are also in demand for that reason. DS8ks are quite cheap all things considered, but serious iron like the frame itself.
And then finally you need some OS media which is also non-trivial to get (although there is or was some "out there" on file sharing).
I am willing to help anyone interested in this kind of thing for fun and preservation of incredible technology and history.
Hi kev! Thanks for your comments, you are 100% right.
Yes, living in the states make this hobby waaay easier. The surplus auctions help as well, having various goverments with various languages going in Europe does not make it as easy :-).
Was $3000 your outlay for the system + the DS6800? Or just the shipping? That is a great find in that case!
I just want to correct a small thing: You need SEs (the frame mounted laptops), you do not actually need an HMC as far as I know. Do you have any information that tells another story? If so I will update the article.
BTW, any other European retro-computing enthusiasts that see this, feel free to exchange your thoughts on how to find the machines that escaped the relentless push towards green tech.
IIRC $2k for the z114, $1 for the z800 and a few hundred for a one way moving truck rental I moved it myself, and maybe a few hundred for the ds6800 which I got lucky when it was FICON enabled the auction did not specify. There are three off-label mainframe support companies in the US that broker machines and parts for companies trying to bleed out their machines due to some transition plan or whatever. I've made acquaintance with one of them so I got the z114 for a great price because it wasn't suitable for any of their common customers and they were able to move it quickly from decom to me.
For the HMC I recall reading this in a manual or hearing it from a mainframe professional but I can't quickly cite it. It may be for some things that a home user doesn't necessarily need, like remote access. Can you access the z/OS System Console from the SEs, that is the only critical thing I can think of.
If you want to dabble with mainframe. Another option is the IBM zPDT. It is an emulator that runs on AIX or Linux. It does require a physical USB hardware key. It is kind of pricy about $5K from IBM, but there might be discounts. I believe that also get the z/OS and z/VM software and licenses also.
Yes that entitles you to a lot of software, so it is a good deal for professional use.
If you are just curious on the software side at home, Hercules is an amazing project.
For students IBM does a "Master the Mainframe" contest where you can get remote access to an environment and see what it is like as a user and developer.
And "Master the Mainframe" is even open to non-students (look for "Learning System"). Comes with material and tasks to work through to get acquainted with the mainframe.
The z800/z890 are probably optimal for hobby use even though they are old because they have modest power requirements and are relatively light and not too wide like the z114 which is absolutely massive.
Actually a P/390 (MCA or PCI card), or Multiprise 3000 (deskside hybrid CMOS/PC server thing) would be even easier but those are very very old 31-bit systems at this point. (I also have a R/390 setup and can comment on that if desired)
Now that said, this requires A LOT of dedication to get right. You need to understand at minimum shipping/transport issues, as well as electrical requirements and installation (or be willing to consult someone that can advise you on phase and conversion if necessary).
After that, you definitely need an HMC (a PC used to do things like load the OS) or at least a recovery disk and a lot of patience to set that up in emulation or on other hardware.
And then, you need a FICON (or older ESCON) capable array. Connor Krukosky goes into detail about what it's like without that, and you are extremely limited (basically Linux) in what you can do without FICON. A ds6800 is the easiest way to do that because it is a small rackmount unit, but they are also in demand for that reason. DS8ks are quite cheap all things considered, but serious iron like the frame itself.
And then finally you need some OS media which is also non-trivial to get (although there is or was some "out there" on file sharing).
I am willing to help anyone interested in this kind of thing for fun and preservation of incredible technology and history.