I want a Mainframe Computer

How could a average normie like me aquire a modern mainframe computer without shelling out a million dollars?
I have a large space in my brownstone where I would set it up along with my home server rack.

Attached: 2000px-Mainframe_Computer.svg.png (2000x2323, 391K)

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=wJyiHsfJLEI
twitter.com/AnonBabble

You have to be at least 18 years old to post on here.
What would you even use it for?

Why in the fuck of the year of our Lord 2018 do you want a mainframe!!?
Unless your conducting millions of transactions or doing a census. It's not like you can play games with them or engage in any real experimtation considering (((IBM))) is the only company that has an OS for them.

fuckin why? I'm sure there's an emulator or deployable package to mess around but it's dead don't bother

Build a beowulf cluster OP. Use cheap chinkshit workstations and convince them that they're all one supercomputer. Then run an ultra-precise billion datapoint simulation to figure up how much of a massive faggot you are and get back to us.

Attached: 2happy2mouse.jpg (330x335, 156K)

If specific people have a specific need for distributed computing they'll usually use a cloud service like AWS or they'll contact a local technical university or business if there is one nearby.

There are a lot of factors and it mostly depends on your needs.

Some kid did exactly what OP wants to do.
Good luck even booting the thing, it has a power consumption that will dent your wallet.

Attached: 3063265-inline-3063265-inline-i-2-the-teenage-ibm-employee-who-got-his-job-by-buying-an-old-mainfram (900x1200, 205K)

Why the fuck would anyone except an enterprise need a Mainframe, it isn't even a proper computer for machine learning or other process heavy tasks. OP is a tech illiterate faggot.

Mmm what I wouldn't give to get me one of those Gibsons baby. Oooh.

*rubs nipples sexually*

Oh please, you don't even have software that requires two 1U threadrippers in the small-scale start of a tiny compute cloud.

Which BTW is the form of most "mainframes" today. Mixed commodity (albeit mostly higher-end) hardware in a cloud.
Everything else is an arsepain to scale.

how much does it cost?

He bought that ancient machine for like 200 dollars. That particular model was 2004 I think.

I don't even think you really buy them. IBM leases them out and just drops support when they get obsolete. But could be easily over $200k to $2 million depending on the setup.

Even enterprises generally don't use mainframes proper anymore.

They require special software anyhow, and if you're going to write that you're better off just writing it for a compute cloud which can be scaled and used for multiple tasks.

Mainframes are shitty, in case you want to write more taxing software, you're generally shit out of luck running it unless you buy the next bigger one or manage to find one section in the program where passing forward intermediate data to another equally sized-machine is smooth.
And in case you manage to make your software more efficient, there's no way to sell off, say, 1/2 of the mainframe that you now don't need.

We're basically nearly done with mainframes. Compute / storage clouds it is.

I wasn't talking about the computer

>That feel when the denizens of reboot will probably end the caustic acid of a poojeet ewaste recycling operation.

Attached: Main_frame.jpg (777x599, 64K)

Never even heard of this.

But yea, most mainframes did/will get the ewaste treatment.

Nah. Most banks still use mainframes and cobol for nearly all transactions. Also most governments and military.
It is still widely deployed.

OP should forget about buying a mainframe as the electricity cost will ruin you. Even if taking everything into account you can probably be happy just playing around with zOS.

Mainframes aren't like normal PCs, why would you want one? They are basically custom built and are mainly just for serving to terminals to do calculations.

>Never even heard of this
summer pls leave

I remember reading about one of IBMs mainframes actually had multiple CPUs that would execute the same code simultaneously and compare the results to check for errors. These things are built super redundant so they can run for decades with no downtime but nowadays they have largely been replace by clusters of commodity hardware for much cheaper

> Most banks still use mainframes and cobol for nearly all transactions.
Maybe in the USA. Most of Europe [probably most of Eurasia] switched, as far as I can tell.

> Also most governments and military
Unchanged machines with exactly the same use, sure. Maybe they just don't touch these.

OTOH even there a lot got ripped out and replaced AFAIK.

AFAIK nearly all banks in Germany still use COBOL with IBM mainframes for transactions... I have looked into job offerings and spoke to 2 cobol devs about this and they say it is a goldmine. One of them writes programs for our army. In cobol. The transitioning to Java will probably take another two decades.

>banks in Germany still use COBOL with IBM mainframes
>have the ability to practically print money for nothing
>cant even upgrade their shit tech every 10 years

Attached: VYjAgij79nijrEymnoNHcWLwHMsZxb5PDrT6aLBh4Yo.jpg (320x364, 26K)

>AFAIK nearly all banks in Germany still use COBOL with IBM mainframes for transactions...
AFAIK even if you have some software in fortran or cobol left the difficulties in saucing the same old hardware and / or supporting new required functions made you update and move it to more modern machines.

But I guess we have no good way to verify.

>no good way to verify
I'll ask my dads. He worked inside a mainframe

check them numbers!

They have paid millions of usd for the systems and custom software. Well it works so why changing a money generating system?

COBOL programs written in the 60s on punched cards can be run on modern mainframes and latest zos. Sourcing the parts isn't a problem because IBMs sole server business nowadays consists of supporting mainframes and blades.
Well but it is just hearsay. I haven't had the opportunity to work for a bank yet.

>He doesn't have Linux-libre mainframe

HAH
Fucking plebs.

buy a wardrobe, paint it black, add some LEDs, and put a raspberry pi inside it. you have yourself a mainframe%20.

This. OP does not know how money works.

>how to I get something expensive for nothing ehhhhh

Banks are paranoid about doing anything that could potentially screw the general ledger, in their mind it's best to keep going with the legacy stuff that works (even if it costs a fortune). Guess one thing mainframes have in their favour is reliability and availability.

OP is talking about a modern one, not a old discounted one, you can easily get them if you know where to look or who to ask.
I have shitloads of old actual mainframes. Mostly Sun though not IBM.

>Good luck even booting the thing, it has a power consumption that will dent your wallet.
Not really, if you only run it a few hours a day, it's no worse than running your high end desktop workstation 24/7.
Luckily I have industrial power/three phase (380V) here by default in my house, even when I rarely use it, came in handy for those machine.

>Mainframes are shitty, in case you want to write more taxing software, you're generally shit out of luck running it unless you buy the next bigger one or manage to find one section in the program where passing forward intermediate data to another equally sized-machine is smooth.
>And in case you manage to make your software more efficient, there's no way to sell off, say, 1/2 of the mainframe that you now don't need.

>being this much of a brainlet
you can lease a fully maxed out IBM mainframe (mainframes are pretty much always leased, never bought outright) and only pay for the computing power you use

*two things in their favour.

Get a cray you faggot

If you go with the lease model (Which BTW isn't always what is agreed on by any means - we got some srs cultural differences here, I guess?), you still are paying regardless. Even if you're correct about that then removing the single big expenses.

Banks are terrified of software upgrades going wrong.

With good reason: ask TSB how theirs went.

youtube.com/watch?v=wJyiHsfJLEI
He works for ibm now.

I know of one large European bank that had almost a decade long project to upgrade their infrastructure from cobol and IBM hardware. They terminated the project after a decade because the new project never could catch up in reliability and functionality. You could probably learn cobol and retire in 30 years time still writing cobol code for banks.

Just make a rasp pi cluster and you will get a pretty hefty "mainframe" considering the cost

Somewhat related, I love the solid look of the IBM mainframe rack/case.
I was thinking of a project to build a cluster PC with multiple mobos/GPUs for gayman and possibly mining but more for just the cool asthetic of big centralized closet to keep the equipment and media. Basically I want to modify a mainframe case into a massive PC case as stupid as that may sound.

Surely IBM/Firms would have surplus/to be scrapped mainframe cases/racks they be willing to sell or even give away. Would contacting IBM directly even be possible or would they tell me to fuck off?
On a sad note it really sucks that IBM is still as shitty a corporation today as they were back then. They could be capitalizing on solid consumer/small commercial hardware that lasts and looks cool/functional, also lend out a branch to hobbyists (which they never did).

BNP?

forgot pic but yeah, I mean look at that thing you have to admit this looks cool. Brag to your friends this *IS* a computer (just the case)

Attached: San-Francisco-20130204-00061.jpg (1920x2560, 1.67M)