Benchmarking
The word "benchmark" normally refers to a test or comparison. For example, in the information technology field a benchmark would reveal the speed of an IBM mainframe computer performing certain tasks compared to another type of computer doing those same things. There is another type of benchmark that may be less familiar to most of […]
Summer Geocaching
One accomplishment for the summer has been to place a new geocache in Ridgefield, Connecticut. We named it Nutmeg and Laurel (after the state nickname and state flower) and it is hidden not far off of a trail which is near the Ridgefield "rails to trails" hiking path. Details about the cache can be found […]
The Main Mainframe Blog
The folks at IBM tell me that readership at the Mainframe Blog is growing. This is not surprising. There are a lot of us "old timers" out there that have fond memories and many people around the world who are using, developing, extending, exploiting, and loving mainframes. You might say it is somewhat of a […]
Favorite Mainframes
We all have our favorite mainframes. For many it will surely be the new and sophisticated mainframe Z9. For me there are four mainframes that standout among my memories. First was the GE 225 at Lehigh University where I was an electrical engineering student (1963-1967). The programming language used was called WIZ and it was […]
The Mainframe
A little more than five years ago (see “in the news“) IBM announced that it would begin installing and supporting the Linux operating system on its mainframe computers. A lot has happened with Linux and with mainframes since then, but first of all, what is a mainframe? Is it a “main” frame, a main “frame”, […]