[bluecmd]

Hi kev! Thanks for your comments, you are 100% right. Yes, living in the states make this hobby waaay easier. The surplus auctions help as well, having various goverments with various languages going in Europe does not make it as easy :-).

Was $3000 your outlay for the system + the DS6800? Or just the shipping? That is a great find in that case!

I just want to correct a small thing: You need SEs (the frame mounted laptops), you do not actually need an HMC as far as I know. Do you have any information that tells another story? If so I will update the article.

Thanks again!

[rbanffy]

> Yes, living in the states make this hobby waaay easier.

It's unbelievable how thoroughly Europeans recycle their old computers. I can't find anything.

[rbanffy]

BTW, any other European retro-computing enthusiasts that see this, feel free to exchange your thoughts on how to find the machines that escaped the relentless push towards green tech.

[kev009]

IIRC $2k for the z114, $1 for the z800 and a few hundred for a one way moving truck rental I moved it myself, and maybe a few hundred for the ds6800 which I got lucky when it was FICON enabled the auction did not specify. There are three off-label mainframe support companies in the US that broker machines and parts for companies trying to bleed out their machines due to some transition plan or whatever. I've made acquaintance with one of them so I got the z114 for a great price because it wasn't suitable for any of their common customers and they were able to move it quickly from decom to me.

For the HMC I recall reading this in a manual or hearing it from a mainframe professional but I can't quickly cite it. It may be for some things that a home user doesn't necessarily need, like remote access. Can you access the z/OS System Console from the SEs, that is the only critical thing I can think of.