What happened when an 18 year old college student bought an IBM made mainframe of 1 ton in weight?

main frameIs a large computer used for core business in organizations such as companies. 18-year-old college student who is interested mainly in gathering vintage computers as a hobby, although mainframes are rarely obtained by ordinary people because they are produced for companiesConner · KraskoskiAnnounced the release of the IBM mainframe "IBM z 890I bought it and set it in my room. "Movie talking about a series of events was released on YouTube.

Here's What Happens When an 18 Year Old Buys a Mainframe


Connor is explaining on slides. I was given computers from my parents in 18 months of age and I am hobbying collecting vintage computers around 15 years old.


Container 's car carriage is full of collections related to vintage computer. Besides the computer itself, old computer used to input the computer systemKey punchThere aree-BayIt was only 9 dollars (about 1000 yen). It seems that the room at home looks alike.


The IBM z890 is a mainframe made by IBM, and it was modeled more than 10 years ago when Mr. Conner purchased it in 2016. Mr. Conner who discovered IBM z890 is on sale on the Internet bulletin board was able to contact the owner immediately and purchase the IBM z890. Connor says thank you with a joke with "Thank you! Thank you! This winter, I got a heating appliance that warms my room!", But in fact Mr. Connor's room is very It is cold, "It is said that IBM z890 will be a long-awaited heating tool" because it can not be said that it is a joke.


In addition, the IBM z890 weighs more than 2,200 pounds (about 1 ton), Connor says an e-mail from a friend asked, "Is not the floor of the house going out?"


Well, Connor who decided to purchase the IBM z890, but since this time the purchase was carried out with confidentiality also to the parents, the parent said to the parents that "the case is a bit heavier than 1.00 meters (about 680 kilos) and the height is 1.8 meters I bought a new machine. " "My parents have tolerated my hobbies to a certain extent, but it is truly stopped if I say this before buying," Connor says.


By the way, the IBM z890 main unit price was 237 dollars 39 cents (about 26,000 yen).


Because IBM z890 could not be moved very solely by Connor, we gathered friends living in the neighborhood and managed to load it on the loading platform.


The case of the main frame is truly extraordinary with the usual PC case, the whole is made of steel, especially the bottom is 2 inches thick (about 5 centimeters), so it seems that it was a terrible weight. I managed to take it with my friends somehow on a truck, connecting behind the car and pulling it.


Finally arrived at Conner 's home at IBM z 890, but an emergency occurred here. According to the initial plan, Mr. Conner's house had been structured so that the first floor part floated above the ground, so it was planned to bring it to Mr. Connor's room through under the first deck. However, the case of the IBM z 890 was larger than expected, proved to be impossible to carry through the deck.


Connor sought his father to cooperate with the ground of the garden and decided to expand the width of the ground and the deck so that the case of the IBM z 890 managed somehow. While doing this work, the poor thing is that the IBM z890 case was outdoors for two days.


I managed to get through the gaps in the limit ... ...


At the end I pull it up using the chain and somehow I managed to bring the case to Mr. Connor's room somehow.


What I learned from this experience is that "Let's plan properly" "Measure at least twice to carry things, let's carry only once," "Listen to your mother's words Let's buy my own warehouse. "That" 1500 pounds (about 680 kilometers) of the case of the mainframe moves when the floor is diagonal ". Apparently I did not notice until I brought the IBM z890 case, apparently Mr. Conner's room seemed to be skewed, slipping after handing the case and hitting others.


And finally, the assembly of IBM z 890 started. I will set the parts that have already been carried to the carrying case.


The assembly itself seems to have completed easily, but some problems occurred. One of them is related to data input / outputI / O moduleRemove the purpose, aim to dissipate heat from the computerheatsinkThere was a thing to see. "This is an arrangement that is not very good from experience," Connor said.


Concerning that other modules had similar problems, Connor was forced to solve it. It seems that we had to continue the delicate work of removing the parts and sticking it for quite a long time. "Everyone, if you have a similar computer, we recommend you to check it," Mr. Conner tells a lesson.


And then the problem raised is the power plug. It seems that the original was a 3-pin power plug, "Mr. Conner who invites laughter that it is not supposed to come out like this".


Conner who solved the problem of 3 pin plugs next confronted this screen that was displayed after launching. Conner who asks the venue "What do you think?" Although it seemed that nobody knew an idea for a while, as soon as the voice called "license certification?" Got raised, Conner responded "It!"


Has already two weeks elapsed from the purchase so far, Connor's but seems to have been exhausted, Connor's that more of the soft surface than the hard surface was still resolved easily. Since thenIOCDS (input / output configuration)YaFTPWe solved the problem of the IBM z890 normally managed successfully.


Next, the problem of storage fell on to Mr. Conner. Since the storage attached to the IBM z890 that arrived at the end of the long trip was old and deteriorated, it was necessary to prepare a new storage, but purchasing a genuine article is said to be too expensive. After all it seems to have dealt with by connecting the substitute items together.


And work to assemble storage parts started.


continueIPLTo main memory, but the way to operate the IBM z890 is too long, Connor already had a headache at this point ... ....


Regarding the main memory, I decided to rely on e-Bay again. "Even if you bought the IBM z890 in the first place, it was e-Bay, so this is not unfair at all," Connor said.


It is an operation of IBM z890 which became considerable importance from the feeling that "It seems interesting because it seems interesting," but this is finally completed.


Actually displaying the starting screen of IBM z 890 in front of everyone ......


The big applause climbed up.


Conner who answers "A little bit" to the question "Is the room warm?"


"Actually, I had an emergency shutdown of the IBM z890 last week," Mr. Conner showed me is a slide of a photo where Mr. Conna's room is flooded. Apparently water leak seemed to have occurred, it was said that I had to shut down the IBM z890 unavoidably. "If you know that the room is going to be this way, you should not have a masu and parents," Mr. Conner laughs.


About $ 340 (about 38,000 yen) for the calculation of the cost of the main body / parts that took the IBM z890 to be operational this time, not including transportation costs and labor power by car at all. According to the old price tag Mr. Conner found, the main price of the IBM z890 is about 350 thousand dollars (about 39 million yen), Connor realized price down to "1/1000" indeed It will be. "Well, 350 thousand dollars is the price 10 years ago, but it is," he said.


After this lecture in March 2016, Mr. Conner said that IBM was able to visit the IBM facility after being called out. Connor who found a wealth of knowledge about the mainframe is now a university student, but he is in charge of IBM mainframe related work. It seems that maintenance of IBM z 890, which started to have a hobby, has had a big influence on Conner's life.

· Continued
As a college student and setting IBM's mainframe at home & & What is the niche way of living "mainframe kid" scouted to IBM? - GIGAZINE
https://gigazine.net/news/20180128-mainframe-kid/