Mainframes, any mainframers here?

[Hebbes]

I have a question, what could one do with a IBM System Z9 Mainframe, Model 2096-R02? 

 

State of Ohio is selling one.

Starting bid is 100 USD.

 

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/17897/10337

 

Also, I kind of want LTT to do a video on them buying a mainframe.

[emosun]

it's 20 years old so you could do a 20 year old distributed computing task very slowly provided you had someone who actually could make a task for a machine that old.

thats about it.

[Dutch_Master]

Original listing:

https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/17897/10337

 

As said, only interested parties will be scrapyard/e-waste dealers

[smcoakley]

Spend a lot on electricity for a mediocre computing experience, probably. Would be cool if you were into old applications that don't run on modern hardware, but I guess virtualization works nearly as well for that too. 

 

That's why it's so cheap. 

[Thomas53]

You're in luck it's Linux compatible, but you're going to need to do some research on which distros, probably older releases. 

 

A couple of starter sites:

https://www.mainframes.com/Linux.html

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos-basic-skills?topic=systems-mainframe-operating-system-linux-system-z

[wasab]

Seems large, space inefficient 

[SirShanova]

Like my signature, I run an old UNIVAC 1219b from the 1960s the used to be the missile control computer for the Terrier, Tartar, and Talos missile systems. The model we have is the only one that was not destroyed in a shipyard.

 

A blog: https://www.tumblr.com/univac1219

 

Digitized documentation: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/military/1219/