Reply to: Mainframes are dead! long live the mainframe!

[AtW]

Will you be popping in to see Threaded?

Apparently you can see him even if you just flying over Denmark...

[Fleetwood]

I'll be in Luton and then in Denmark, but shhh

Will you be popping in to see Threaded?

[expat]

What about next week then? I'll be in Poughkeepsie for a couple of weeks and then into Farnham

I'll be in Luton and then in Denmark, but shhh

[darmstadt]

Funny that, I've just been in Madrid but now I'm near Darmstadt.

What about next week then? I'll be in Poughkeepsie for a couple of weeks and then into Farnham

[expat]

I'm in Madrid at the moment

Funny that, I've just been in Madrid but now I'm near Darmstadt.

[darmstadt]

The only REAL problem with mainframes is the incredible power consumption. Personally, I think they should build lower powered machines with the same architecture.

They do, I have zOS, zVM, zVSE and zLinux running on my Thinkpad and I have an x236 at home doing the same thing. I'm in Madrid at the moment putting zOS on an x3800 to act as a DR box for a 2064

[TheMonkey]

It's all them bl@@dy valves, innit!

Actually, I doubt they're much worse than Wintel stuff - they spin a lot more disks (I don't know about z/OS stuff, but AS400s use the same disk technology as Wintel servers these days) & have more processors (pretty much every subsystem has it's own), but if you scaled-up a wintel box to the same size, it would probably use similar amounts of power).

Yeah but some of the big buggers require 3-phase power, which is actually quite scary considering the consumption. I suppose that mainframes are optimised for throughput, not general purpose computation which is understandable in that case.

I've scaled up some big wintel sites (up to 35 servers serving one application), and the power consumption was quite reasonable!

Some of us young'ns have had a bit of experience with big iron - mainly replacing it with either wintel/sql / unix/oracle - but it's good enough to see the whole picture.

Personally I think we should scrap the internet and all have vt100's off a large national VAX 11/780 cluster running VMS. That would stop the retards from getting access to it (IQ entry barrier).

[expat]

Unfortunately the Indians are indeed moving in - though from first hand experience, they're a pretty mixed bag (ranging from cr@p to really cr@p - but give them time)

You mean, give the managers time to decide that they can live with crap if it's cheaper.

[expat]

Must agree, but listening to the young uns in the office today I doubt they're trained up on PCs either.

well spotted!

[Forumbore]

You catch my drift

[hattra]

they will become really really crap

You catch my drift

[Forumbore]

Unfortunately the Indians are indeed moving in - though from first hand experience, they're a pretty mixed bag (ranging from cr@p to really cr@p - but give them time)

they will become really really crap

[hattra]

The only REAL problem with mainframes is the incredible power consumption. Personally, I think they should build lower powered machines with the same architecture.

It's all them bl@@dy valves, innit!

Actually, I doubt they're much worse than Wintel stuff - they spin a lot more disks (I don't know about z/OS stuff, but AS400s use the same disk technology as Wintel servers these days) & have more processors (pretty much every subsystem has it's own), but if you scaled-up a wintel box to the same size, it would probably use similar amounts of power).

[hattra]

i know as400 guys that are struggling... i believe the hay days of £600/day are over in this field

I've been working on AS400's (now called iSeries & the OS is now called i5 or something really stupid) since pre-release testing days - over 20 years now, and the rates are definitely down on what they used to be. But the user base is pretty solid, because the systems are so reliable. If you can, pick up the newer technologies, like Websphere, and MQ Series. Also, if you can pick up package experience, like Genius, SAP or any of the big banking packages, then you should be able to earn a pretty decent living. If you go for "traditional" stuff, make sure you've got SQL & RPG IV in your skillset (and RPG/free format - though not everyone uses it). Rates are around £275 - £350 a day for most A/P contracts at the moment, though I did see one for £600/ day (probably a mispriont) on Jobserve yesterday (senior techie type role). There's also quite a lot of work in Ireland & Holland if you fancy a bit of travel.

Unfortunately the Indians are indeed moving in - though from first hand experience, they're a pretty mixed bag (ranging from cr@p to really cr@p - but give them time)

[TheMonkey]

The only REAL problem with mainframes is the incredible power consumption. Personally, I think they should build lower powered machines with the same architecture.