IBM Announces New System z9 and zOS
Linked by Andrew Youll on Wed 27th Jul 2005 16:00 UTC, submitted by Manny
IBM IBM just announced a new line of z9 mainframes and new version of their operating systems. This time the focus is on security. There is an interesting news article from Reuters: Analyst Bob Djurdjevic of Phoenix-based Annex Research said key selling points of the z9 mainframe are not that it is faster and cheaper -- something it has been becoming for decades -- but rather the mix of hardware and software that give customers control over machines.
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Will it run Quake?
by Anonymous on Wed 27th Jul 2005 16:43 UTC
Anonymous
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Will this beast run Quake?

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RE: Will it run Quake?
by Tyr. on Wed 27th Jul 2005 17:29 UTC in reply to "Will it run Quake?"
Tyr. Member since:
2005-07-06

Well, it will run Linux : http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/library/specsheets/gm... So I guess you could run quake in several Linux images hosted on the zseries at the same time.

I don't know about the graphics capabilities though, maybe it would have to be text mode quake ( http://webpages.mr.net/bobz/ttyquake/ )

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: Will it run Quake?
by Anonymous on Wed 27th Jul 2005 17:49 UTC in reply to "RE: Will it run Quake?"
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Graphics capabilities are definitely there; you can run X-Windows and KDE perfectly well. There is much more than just a CLI interface.

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RE[2]: Will it run Quake?
by Ronald Vos on Wed 27th Jul 2005 19:26 UTC in reply to "RE: Will it run Quake?"
Ronald Vos Member since:
2005-07-06

Textmode Quake?

Thank you thank you thank you so much for that link ;)

Reply Score: 1

RE[3]: Will it run Quake?
by Anonymous on Wed 27th Jul 2005 18:27 UTC
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You don't need graphics hardware to run X (i.e. you can run X apps from a SunFire V210 even when it doesn't have a graphics card), just a remote X server. Running Quake over a remote server would pretty useless.

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Cool computer...
by 1c3d0g on Wed 27th Jul 2005 20:12 UTC
1c3d0g
Member since:
2005-07-06

...but I'm confused, what's the specific CPU that's used in the z9? I read somewhere it was a 1.7 GHz CISC processor...I thought mainframes used RISC processors only... ;)

Anyway, anyone know if it's a family of the PowerPC? Or some custom chip designed specifically for the z9 alone? Will you be able to install, say, Slack/390 on it? Just curious...

http://www.slack390.org/

Reply Score: 1

RE: Cool computer...
by rcsteiner on Thu 28th Jul 2005 15:22 UTC in reply to "Cool computer..."
rcsteiner Member since:
2005-07-12

...but I'm confused, what's the specific CPU that's used in the z9? I read somewhere it was a 1.7 GHz CISC processor...I thought mainframes used RISC processors only... ;)

Are you confusing mainframes and supercomputers? The two are quite different, and historically most mainframes have been emphatically CISC.

The instruction set on the Unisys Clearpath IX mainframes I play with for a living is quite extensive.

Reply Score: 1

The Z series
by zizban on Wed 27th Jul 2005 23:33 UTC
zizban
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2005-07-06

The z series uses POWER5 chips.

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RE: The Z series
by Anonymous on Thu 28th Jul 2005 01:01 UTC in reply to "The Z series"
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> The z series uses POWER5 chips.

Absolutely not true, Z/Series has its own CPU.

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RE[2]: The Z series
by Anonymous on Thu 28th Jul 2005 03:05 UTC in reply to "RE: The Z series"
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Of course, what else would you use a z80 for?

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RE: The Z series
by Anonymous on Thu 28th Jul 2005 07:15 UTC
Anonymous
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>> The z series uses POWER5 chips.
>
>Absolutely not true, Z/Series has its own CPU.

I second that, looked it up on the site. It is the pSeries and the iSeries that share the same hardware (and POWER5-cpu).

Reply Score: 0

RE[2]: The Z series
by Tyr. on Thu 28th Jul 2005 09:39 UTC in reply to "RE: The Z series"
Tyr. Member since:
2005-07-06

In future the pseries iseries and also zseries will all run on power6 : http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/08/07/ibms_power5_to_hit_3ghz/

Reply Score: 1

RE[3]: The Z series
by Anonymous on Thu 28th Jul 2005 12:14 UTC
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Nice article, tnx! ;)

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Re: Cool computer...
by Anonymous on Thu 28th Jul 2005 19:07 UTC
Anonymous
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Actually the original Intel x86 microchips were designed based on mainframe technology with all the pros and cons. Todays Pentiums try to eliminate the legacy cons and try to graft on some of the pros of RISC architecture...

I tried installing Linux on my company's mainframe (a two year old z900) and every distro I've tried (ThinkBlue, Marist, Debian, RedHat, SuSE) booted normally in LPAR mode, but failed to get the network up to finish the installation.
Slack390 was the only distro that recognized the CISCO router attached to the machine, but the CLAW driver still wouldn't see the network.

Oh well...

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