[CLUE-Talk] Linux-Only Mainframe

[Ed Hill]

On Fri, 2002-01-25 at 12:02, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
> On Fri, 25 Jan 2002 rknech at pcisys.net wrote:
> 
> > The Nice thing about IBM putting Linux on the Mainframes & AS/400's is that
> > they are able to use Logical Partitioning and run multiple Linux servers
> > simultaniously! :^)  IBM is supposed to be releasing their code for this
> > functionality.  This would be nice for those who want to run mulitple linux
> > serves on one machine on different hard drive partitions without the need
> > of "multi-booting" or running virtual machines.  Think of the possibilities!!!
> 
> Oh, I am... I am...
> 
> I have a dual Xeon that I'd love to use to run several virtual
> instances of Linux rather than just one, and without the overhead
> of VMWare.


Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way...

Back at trilug, we hosted a talk by Boas Betzler.  He was one of the
project leads on the original IBM-skunkworks port of Linux to the
z-Series.  It was a great talk and he described (in some detail) what
they did to accomplish the port (including writing a zSeries assembly
code back-end for gcc).  He also talked about some future directions for
Linux on the zSeries.

The multiple-copies-of-linux-running-simultaneously trick is very much
architecture specific as it relies upon certain features of the zSeries
machines.  Do *NOT* expect to see it ported to anything other than the
AS/400 series, which I think also supports similar (though more limited)
VM capabilities.  IBMs VM features will perhaps never be ported to x86
hardware since the architecture does not support some of the essential
features.

Ed


-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD
Post-Doctoral Researcher   |  Email:       ed at eh3.com, ehill at mines.edu
Division of ESE            |  URL:         http://www.eh3.com
Colorado School of Mines   |  Phone:       303-273-3483
Golden, CO  80401          |  Fax:         303-273-3311
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