evie!

VM/CMS on an IBM S/390 mainframe in a mostly-gutted datacenter wait why am i just describing my current computing scenario

slightly modified to work on one of IBM's BASIC runtimes; it completed basically instantly on an old System/390 mainframe

oh this was me when I was a kid! I've put together tons of old PCs, servers, and network equipment from the 1990-2000 window (since I acquired a lot of forgotten junk in 2015 or so, and that stuff was comparatively "ancient" by then)... and have even managed to assemble a DEC PDP-11/20 minicomputer, IBM System/390 mainframe, and other non-computing devices by doing the same thing! I am legitimately blown away with how far in life I've gotten on a zero-dollar budget, and I am convinced that you don't have to spend a dime to build a digital empire CC: @Naturtrueb@norden.social

considering I am tooting at you from a boatanchor mainframe from the 80s, the reports about Windows XP being insecure are greatly exaggerated lol

yeah I noticed that too, I wonder what's going on there... a problem for tomorrow me to solve! CC: @electron_greg@oldbytes.space

this is EXACTLY what I'm doing next semester... I've already had to fail several students for flat-out cheating using AI (and it was very embarrassing when they got clocked using it)

I got so lazy in a recent video that I literally hooked an A1200 running ProTracker playing modules up to an analog mix on my mic lol CC: @confusionunknown@pleroma.envs.net

if you are living in the US and are a nerd, owning a powerful vehicle that can pull your enclosed trailer that you also own is a must lol CC: @rey@toot.cat @alyx@frogs.lgbt @ajroach42@retro.social @djsundog@fedi.reclaim.technology

don't forget that you could also author an entire website visually (and publish it to an FTP server), chat till you pass out on IRC, and all that good stuff! there is a reason everything I do is so ancient, because it worked back then and it was GOOD

well, libcurl and openssl work great on old UNIX (the fediverse instance I am speaking to you from is as old as an IP32), and json-c is pretty good in terms of portability. I look forward to messing with it!!

where's the source? I'd like to port it to post from my VAXen/RS6ks/Suns/SGIs/Alphas/HP9ks if possible!!!

that take is stone cold! we made it to the moon and back several times, safely, with FORTRAN IV, IBM S/360s, a database that makes my hair recede back into my head, and fairly early land-mobile-radio two-way communications systems! I'm frankly shocked we even made it off the ground, it goes to show how diabolically screwed modern computing is when it comes to literally everything

I would take this a step further. make it good simple website, but also set up a physical posting board of information somewhere that I can walk up to on short notice (like if I bust up to some random restaurant and they've got some critical announcement to make about their business that I didn't see because I don't have a facebook account)

i'm as shocked as the next person that I actually have one running in perfect condition in this day and age

three Multiprise 2000 mainframes (one not pictured when this was taken), with two 3745s obscured fully in the background; this is the rarest mainframe stuff! the 3745 will fork out 3270 sessions for PUBVM, and PUBVM itself will run on an MP2000!

big announcement for Friday: I have acquired a datacenter that has not been touched since approximately 2002, and is FULL of old 80s/90s/2000s IBM mainframe equipment. mainframes, disk arrays, tape drive strings, network processor boxes, and more!

all will be photographed (and posted here), also videographed!

the equipment is being moved to my place, where pubvm.org will be ran on an actual IBM System/370 mainframe!!!!

this is a six-sigma event, this is unfathomable rarity omg

all of this is the machine running this fediverse node and evievm.pubvm.org

how did you get a picture of my car?????

the curse of my daily-driver computer having hundreds of 2.8gb disks is that I cannot run LaTeX without making an LVM group of two disks or more

yes I know I can provision disks that are larger than 3339 cylinders

you might get a kick out of reading my Fediverse bio text blurb thingy or whatever it's called haha

Running Samba on a UNIX system as a server and a client maps the permissions quite well, since you can just suck the passwd file into the SMB passwd file with ease. the in-kernel SMB clients on Linux and FreeBSD are also very good, with FreeBSD's being on par with the Windows integrated LAN manager SMB client in terms of performance the only other option that's non-FUSE is AFS, but, well... if ya know, ya know (I know Alice is gonna say Evie is a crazy girl right here) CC: @confusionunknown@pleroma.envs.net

I can't believe I'm about to say this but I have never heard "multifunctional" before

i've been wonderin' for years if Apple was doomed to be stuck on 68k orrrr if they could've jumped even earlier over to POWER compared to when they did... the fact that the 68k lasted as long as it did was a miracle CC: @8oz952841w@mk.absturztau.be

on today's episode of Mainframe Insanity, the 3172 LCS blew up in real time! will fix Saturday lol

IBM 3745, one of two i now own!!! it’s an old-fashioned pre-TCP/IP router-style box for the SNA protocol, the native mainframe network protocol family. this one is loaded with synchronous serial ports!

can’t emulate this thing (yet)

update on the 1990s mainframe data center move: all is well, a video will be produced in June when everything is situated into its new place/everything is put into an operational state

you know who's still alive and unslopped? Elvis!!! CC: @a1cswc3mhdfa0gh8@not.an.evilcyberhacker.net

I love how in 2026 being human-made is a badge of honor of high degree when it comes to software

another lil preview: IBM 2105 ESS "Shark" DASD array

I learned more about computer architecture than anything ever by manipulating the MIT TRIX 68000 C compiler to generate flat binaries at the correct load address for the Genesis; I didn't really know what I was doing walking in but I learnt a lot about random stuff like memory access alignment, relocating linkers, and fixing compiler bugs in the process seriously, people need to try to bend simple computers to their will!

holy crapola! good find!!!

people of Fediverse,

Terry Davis ain't shit.

this is a custom OS that four people at IBM made, most of the work being done by one guy... who developed a desktop S/370 mainframe. like, with full graphics and a mouse.

EM/YMS.

hahaha yeah the 88000 was interesting but who the heck was gonna use it!!! CC: @8oz952841w@mk.absturztau.be

update to the mainframe data center update:

• three Multiprise 2000s (System/390 G3)
• two System/390 G5s
• four z890s
• a 3480 string
• a 3490E string
• a 3590 dual-drive
• two 3422s
• four ESS 2105 Shark disk arrays
• two 3745s
• five 3174s of various models
• a bunch of 3270-series terminals
• two 3172s
• a 3287
• too many tapes

is the haul. everything's in great condition too!!! i promise i will make a public mainframe playground with this stuff and foot the bill for the electricity myself, it's the least I can do to help out my fellow nerds

I swear to god I am asking for someone that isn't me, but where in the world can I find a dog collar that fits a human?

leash not required, she's not into that kinda thing

biggest ethernet adapter in the world and this mastodon node is using it

CC: @byte@awawa.club

IBM 3172. this is a mainframe's Ethernet adapter before 1995

this is the mindset that scares me: if you're using AI to onboard yourself to some job, how do you ensure that you will actually be able to continue to do your job when you run out of token allowance, your internet link goes out, or any other such possibly-real-or-possibly-fake issue? is it a learning tool, or is it a totally new form of cognitive offloading compared to calculators? this is what worries me, LLMs seem to allow people into a false sense of task completion or assurance of their own knowledge CC: @alper@rls.social @drikanis@mstdn.ca @ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club