Obtaining Mainframe Experience w/o a Mainframe?

Nice2Cats asks: "So I'm reading all over about how companies are desperate for people who know how to work mainframes, especially now that IBM is shipping them with Linux. But how -- short of a course with Big Blue or some other exercise in expensive formal education -- can I acquire even the most basic information or experience with big iron? There doesn't seem to be many tutorials or introductions online; what would be nice, but I can't seem to find either, would be a simulator that would run on a PC. All I want to know is if I like enough to be seriously interested."

Comments

teh gibson.

[Anonymous Coward]

j00 mu57 h4x0r 73h g1b50n, 4n|) |)0wn104d "garbage"

Entry Level Postion ? (Re:It's really very easy)

[OzPixel]

I thought they were all in India these days.

Re:The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/ Emulat

[Ratbert42]

A number of our developers hypothetically could possibly be running Hercules and some of the latest and most sophisticated IBM software and it (hypothetically again) kicks ass.

Disclaimer: I in no way know anything about any copyright or license violations and hardly speak for myself, much less my tiny tiny offshore company with absolutely no attachable assets.

Re:Training

[Lumpish Scholar]

... [is] there such a surplus of qualified candidates milling about that ...

It doesn't matter how you finish the question, the answer will be "yes".

Ug indeed.

It just seems that ground-floor opportunities are a myth.

The only ground-floor opportunities today are the ones you get a few seconds after they throw you out.

Re:How To Simulate A Mainframe In Five Easy Steps.

[Poeir]

An iron bar with a rubber handle for gripping might come in handy.

Ah, so that's what a cluestick's made of.

Re:Obtaining Girlfriend Experience w/o a Girlfrien

[skinfitz]

"So I'm reading all over about how companies are desperate for people who know how to work with chicks, especially now that they are so common down in the Mall. But how -- short of a course with a mate's girlfriend or some other exercise in expensive sex for hire -- can I acquire even the most basic information or experience with big tits? There doesn't seem to be many tutorials or introductions online; what would be nice, but I can't seem to find either, would be a simulator that would run on a PC. All I want to know is if I like enough to be seriously interested."

You're in luck - there are several emulators available, however some of the older models are difficult to get hold of. You might want to look at this which was recently covered by /.

ESA/390 Emulator

[LauraW]

Hercules is an open source software implementation of the mainframe System/370 and ESA/390 architectures

So, let me see if I have this right. I can run Hercules on my Linux box (or Win98, even) and emulate an S/390. And then I can get the IBM software that lets you run multiple, independent Linux VMs on S/390. My Linux box has now multiplied! Heck, I could even make it into a recursive Beowulf cluster.

That's step 1. Now to figure out step 2....

Someone contact me with mainframe OSes, please.

[JessLeah]

I don't give a flaming rat's patootie about the DMCA, or the "don't copy that floppy" rubbish. I REALLY want to get into the mainframe admin field, and to do so, you need experience with newer mainframe OSes.

If you can give me a copy of such things, email me at J L B at T W U dot net.

I'm serious. I want to learn this stuff; DAMN copyright law. We all know it's impossible to find an entry-level position on anything nowadays, much less on mainframe operations.