PC-based IBM mainframe-compatible systems: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:34, 24 November 2009

Revision as of 11:28, 15 December 2009

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Since the late 1990s, PC processors have become fast enough to perform mainframe emulation without the need for a peripheral card. One of the most popular PC-based IBM-compatible mainframe products as of 2006 is Fundamental Software's [[FLEX-ES]] product. FLEX-ES emulates both System/390 (ESA/390) and z/Architecture. While FLEX-ES is capable of running on most PC hardware, the licensing agreement prohibits it. FLEX-ES must run on the machine with which it was sold; in the past, this included Compaq Proliant and HP servers, but today this is nearly always an approved IBM [[xSeries]] server or a [[ThinkPad]] laptop.

Another popular emulator is the open source [[Hercules emulator]], which has been in development since 1999 and emulates the System/370, System/390, and z/Architecture instruction sets. While Hercules cannot legally run modern IBM operating systems, earlier System/370 operating systems are in the public ___domain and can be legally run on Hercules. According to Tom Lehmann, the founder of TurboHercules, a Nehalem EX equipped PC should be able to give a performance of 3.200MIPS by software emulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_emulator#Performance

As of December, 2007, there are no authorized PC-based [[64-bit]] mainframe-compatible systems. Thus there is no legal way to run [[z/OS]] 1.6 (or higher), [[IBM DB2|DB2]] V8 (or higher), [[z/TPF]], or [[z/VSE]] 4.1 (or higher) on PC-based machines.