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Here's What Happens When an 18 Year Old Buys a Mainframe

Here's What Happens When an 18 Year Old Buys a Mainframe on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2018–2025.

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Connor Krukosky, an 18-year-old college student and vintage computer collector, tells how he bought an IBM z890 mainframe and got it running at home. The talk was given at SHARE in San Antonio in March 2016.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters cite it as an entertaining example of a teenager buying, hosting and booting a real mainframe.

people recommended it
2
separate months
2
strong recommendations
0
discussed on HN
2018–2025
“it's an entertaining 45 minutes”
— laxd, May 2020, in “Mini-Mainframe at Home: A 6-CPU Server from 1997”

What HN commenters said

9 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

galoisgirlDec 2020Recommends

He did, his talk about it is really interesting: ▶ this video > He and his old computer friends played around with some applications that were on the platform, and even made an FTP server that put some data on the internet. Per [link]

in “GnuCOBOL 3.1.1” · View on HN

laxdMay 2020Recommends

I'm shure alot of you have seen this already. If not, it's an entertaining 45 minutes ▶ this video (Here's What Happens When an 18 Year Old Buys a Mainframe)

in “Mini-Mainframe at Home: A 6-CPU Server from 1997” · View on HN

timewizardApr 2025Cites it

It depends on how full those drawers are. $250k to $1m would be the typical price range. It's easier and harder at the same time to buy older hardware. That's half the challenge though because the software is strictly licensed and you pay per MIPS. Here's a kid who bought a mainframe and then brought it up: ▶ this video

in “A Tour Inside the IBM Z17” · View on HN

jamal-kumarMay 2022Cites it

Wasn't there that kid that IBM uses as a sort of new mascot for mainframe stuff who bought an old mainframe and got it working in his basement? [1] [1] ▶ this video

in “OpenVMS on x86” · View on HN

chiphNov 2021Cites it

If you do, blog about it. One of the challenges in getting an old mainframe (System 360, 3090, etc) running is getting a license for the operating system from IBM. Hopefully acquiring one for the AS/400 is easier. ▶ this video

in “Bernie Madoff’s unwitting accomplice: The AS/400 (2009)” · View on HN

dirkthemanMay 2019Cites it

Reminds me of the kid that bought an IBM z890 mainframe and brought it to his basement. And got it to work! ▶ this video

in “Three geeks rescue a 50-year-old IBM 360 mainframe from an abandoned building” · View on HN

Show 3 more comments
dbg31415Feb 2019Cites it

Consumer tech has been refined and dumbed down to the point where everything just sort of magically works, and since it's "magic" you never have to dive into the nuts and bolts. By making it so easy to use, we are depriving people of their opportunities to organically learn like people in my generation had to. Exceptions exist. * Here's What Happens When an 18 Year Old Buys a Mainframe - YouTube || ▶ this video

in “The Rise of the Tech-Savvy Parent” · View on HN

avipSep 2018Cites it

This vid has some good photos ▶ this video (also discussed on HN previously). You don't want one if you ask me.

in “Millennials and Mainframes: How to Bridge the Gap” · View on HN

dredmorbiusJul 2018Cites it

C'mon, you just needa little motivation. ;-) Here's What Happens When an 18 Year Old Buys a Mainframe ▶ this video

in “Hello World on z/OS” · View on HN

Topics & tags

History of computingComputer architecture & CPUsibm mainframez890vintage computershobby hardwarez/os