The practical home mainframe.
I have two IBM mainframes running in my living room.
The first is a 1984 vintage IBM PC/XT with a 30 meg RLL disk, monochrome video card. It has the IBM XT/370 cardset in it. In 1984, this set up cost over $10,000.
The XT/370 is a two board set. The CPU board includes 2 Motorola 68000 32 bit CPU's running S/370 microcode and an 8087 recoded to execute IBM S/370 floating point instructions. About .1-.5 MIPS depending on workload.
The memory board includes 512K of memory. (IBM S/390 Engineering reports that this memory had a manufacturing defect and an unacceptable failure rate. To date, I have not experienced a failure.)
PC/CMS, a customized version of VM/370-CMS, runs this machine. The boardset included a 5.25 floppies containing additional microcode for the machine. These are called the characterization or personality files.
My XT/370 is very much like the S/360-50 that I first worked on in 1969. The S/360-50 had 512K, 29 Meg 2314 disks and ran MVT 21.8.
The XT/370 and AT/370 only ran PC/CMS.
The second machine is a 1995 Fundamental Software Inc. Flex prototype. The Flex is a software emulation of S/370-390. I have the non-ESA version. It runs MVS/370 3.8. The system is on two emulated 3350's.
The Flex prototype is much faster than the IBM XT/370. Both machines are suitable for software development on S/370, assemblies, compiles, etc. The Flex prototype delivers 2-5 MIPS depending on speed and number of Pentium CPUs. I have a single P90 engine.
A high end Flex running on multiple XEONs is very similar to the faster multi-CPU S/370s of the mid 1980's, 4381's, 3084's, and 3090's.
Other alternatives - Unless specified, these have no value on the used market. If you're a seller, don't expect to receive more than a nominal bid. If you're a buyer, offer $100-500.
The AT/370- 1985/6, stronger IO subsystem than the XT/370, faster disks but similar CPU performance and software support. The AT/370 requires a different version of PC/CMS than the XT/370. The software is bound to the PC/DOS FAT file structure. For a while, these were available on the surplus market for $35-50. I have one but it's not for sale.
The 4300 series - In the early 1980s, I worked on a 4341 model group II. An S/370 the size of a large chest freezer. IBM said this machine used office environmentals. It did not require false floor or 3-phase power. The bad news is, this machine delivers fewer MIPS than the 1995 Flex and uses a lot of electricity. The 4300 is not a home machine.
The 4381 was the top of the line. There was a two-CPU version that ran XA. I've seen it, it's huge.
If anyone is running a 4300 series machine and expects to continue to do so for more than a few months, please contact Fundamental Software. They can replace your machine for a big savings in power, maintenance, and give you more MIPS. If you have a 308x, 3090, ES9000, the same applies.
The 4301 - ??
The 9370 - This is a rack-mount, departmental server. Non-ESA. It had its own periperals but could use standard parallel channel peripherals too. Better on power than the 4341 but still not something you'd run 7x24. Late 1980's
By rack-mount, I don't mean it mounted in a rack. I mean, it was a rack.
The ES9000/9221 Rack mount - Looks like a 9370 upgrade. ESA, ESCON, fast. Early 1990's. 5-10 MIPS.
The P/370 - Non ESA version. A upgrade of the XT/370. About 2 MIPS, Ran in IBM microchannel bus machines. Ran all non-ESA operating systems, the first true IBM desktop mainframe. Available parallel (copper) channel card. Estimated 2001 used market value, $1,000.
The P/390 - ESA version. Mid 1990s vintage, 2-4 MIPS, PCI slot. Estimated 2001 used market, $5,000.
The P/390e - eCommerce, enterprise, or web server P/390, ESA, Internal DASD. ESCON and parallel channels available. 7.4 MIPS. This is a desktop machine in a black case. Sold through IBM S/390 Devcon for about $18,000 or $500/month. Estimated 2001 used market, $5-10,000, depending on channel options.
The H/30 or P/30 - a two drawer filing cabinate, about 60 MIPS, ESA, ESCON, internal DASD, OSA-2. I believe it has a variant of the 9672 CMOS CPU in it. IBM S/390 Devcon gets $2,000/month for these on lease-purchase, make it more than $50,000 on the used market.
The Russian Option the UMX
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 09:33:02 +0300
I have had some dialog with the folks at UMX.
UMX Solo (High-end Notebook version; 5MIPS) 10,000 EURO
Unlike FLEX-ES, you do not need to send the machine to the vendor to
have the product installed.
According to UMX, the procedure is very simple: (I quote)
I've also loaded the whitepaper into the files area, although I must
state that I have not read it to see if I could do this or not. I am sure
one person in particular will have something to say on that!
I must say that, this is a very attractive commercial offering. The
one stumbling block remains IBM's ESL pricing. Sorry, but 32K on top of
a minimum of 10,000 Euro's is still too much. I can get a lot of INTEL
& Linux for that!
===============
From: "Paul Truscott"
Subject: Re: UMX Virual Mainframe
UMX Entry Server version (8MIPS): 30,000 EURO
UMX Power Server version (20-MIPS): 50,000 EURO
(NB: 60 MIPS is now being benchmarked)
"Assemble the hardware yourself or ask a business partner to do that
for you
Install Windows 2000 or NT4.0
Install our UMX/VMF and configure it
Install OS390 (basically unzip the CD's and move them to the right
directory, configure and IPL!)"