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

Connor Krukosky is an 18-year-old college student with a hobby of collecting vintage computers. One day, he decided to buy his own mainframe...an IBM z890. This is his story.
Connor's presentation "I just Bought an IBM z890 - Now What?" was featured at SHARE in San Antonio in March 2016. For more great content like this, register for the next SHARE by visiting www.SHARE.org/events!
© 2016 SHARE Inc.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 license. creativecommons...

[@esra_erimez]

Fun fact: Connor now works at IBM on mainframe firmware. Well done.

[@inspiredartphotos]

Thanks for the update. I just watched the video and I loved his passion. It reminded me of my parents support. I told my parents, I wanted to learn how to fly and be an airline pilot. I soloed at 16 and got my private license at 17. I retired from my major airline career at the mandatory age of 65. I would not of made it without supportive parents.

[@MsStevieWoo]

I came in to the comment to see where he is these days. I’ve watched this vid so many times over years. 😂 well done on the persistence….. message here: guide your kids properly, nurture there interests if they are wholesome 🙏💖

[@PardalJPR]

what a fucking mad lad...

[@orideconblingbling]

And he is working there for 7 years 8 months up to now, it means no long from this video, he got hired by IBM.

[@SP-ny1fk]

Does he still wear black shirts, and does he like them?

[@joekrukosky8800]

Liz and I are very proud of Connor. We thought he was crazy for getting the mainframe, and I have to admit, were against it at first. But Connor is persistent if nothing else, and now it seems it was a good educational investment. It was a little tricky getting it in the basement, but I love an excuse to use my toys too.

[@jamst174]

+Joe Krukosky Nice work Joe. My son just turned 1, and I hope I can help him be as driven, curious, and passionate about something in this world as you and your wife have.

[@plebiannn]

Parenting done right haha

[@seanchase7855]

+Joe Krukosky Good man Joe. When I was 18 I was probably drunk and puking out the side of a van. At 24-25 I never wanted to see another piece of green bar paper again or write another line of COBOL...and I never did after college. Is he going to fire up some COBOL apps with JCL? :)

[@citizenstaefn9042]

+Joe Krukosky I wish him all the best, and i hope you can find suitable storage .

[@joekrukosky8800]

+Sean Chase That's a question you'd have to ask him. I'm with you on the green bar paper, except the language was LISP, then C++.

[@SquidStudio]

This is incredible. People don't seem to understand, but operating an old mainframe like this requires such a high understanding of computers. It certainly is not as simple as "buying it and turning it on" as I see other people cynically stating. This is truly impressive.

[@bmull81]

Yes, I agree. And I go back to the days of punched tape backup, key and lamp entry of boot-loaders. My (late) uncle Peter showed me the mercury delay memories he first used back in the day. Then came magnetic disc storage, with the intern tuning the head height above the medium. Old iron is rugged, learning it is impressive. Buying one for the price of a cheap fondleslab is awesome. Getting it going is exceptional.

[@stonytina01will-not-be-ban78]

About as much as needed for operating a C64.

[@scottcupp8129]

I completely agree! Very cool and inspirational as well.

[@MmeHyraelle]

I studied normal pc computers and nothing of this is known to me, except ftp LOL

[@stonytina01will-not-be-ban78]

@@MmeHyraelle LOL... you "studied" normal PC computers? As in: you compared the latest offers from Dell and Alienware? XD

[@as_below_so_above]

I loved the enthusiasm from the crowd, especially when he was able to do his demo. I could only imagine how accomplished he must feel for putting so much time and dedication into this project! Love that he was able to share his story with the rest of the world.

[@JimDavies42]

Wow, Connor is such an inspiration. After so many years in IT I'd forgotten what real passion looked like. This is it right here! Keep following your dreams Connor, greatness awaits.

[@JimDavies42]

I was thinking the same thing. Curious where that mind of his has taken him over this last year.

[@MaximumGriswald]

God damn, after 15 seconds in IT, I forgot what real passion looked like. By that time you are already screwed.

[@jaalcaid]

@My name is Tim, I'm a lesser known character i googled him and he works for IBM designing mainframes, i think it's the good ending

[@savior1976]

I just watched 45 minutes of this presentation and found it really interesting. The only problem is that I had no clue what he was talking about 99% of the time. But couldn't step away.

[@zuroxtv2199]

savior1976 same I don't know what I watched but I enjoyed it so much

[@ColScimitar]

yeah same here. I only expected to watch a couple minutes but ended up watching the whole thing.

[@Xaxxus]

I do software development for one of these machines and even I don't know 99% of what he was talking about.

[@pccalcio]

same

[@Alex34124]

Great thing to get into

[@clachanachoin3127]

When I was his age my economics teacher was busy telling us that the internet wouldn't amount to a row of beans and he could prove it by looking up the oil price faster in a newspaper than online. And now look at it - it can trick me into watching a 45 minute talk about something that I still don't understand.

[@trs-80fanclub12]

in 1984 my middle school teacher stated computer consoles (My trs-80) was proof that man was busy making gaming electronics that would not last, nor help with anything. fast forward. I manage networks and make quite a bit more then he ever would. I bet he died when he was told to use direct deposit.

[@justinbelliveau2059]

S A M E

[@TJG421]

You can get a free lesson in economics just by playing any long standing MMORPG. That's not even a slight joke

[@aphysique]

Clachan a Choin lmao

[@crzces7500]

Mentally Distant Aleks Hilarious, or scary, that you said that. I was watching the news the other day and to buy all the currency in World of Warcraft (in game) would cost more than the US GDP, or roughly 19 trillion usd. That is insane.

[@TheBushdoctor68]

So, is this the Connor that's going to create Skynet, instead of fighting it?

[@shit2fly]

Damn.

[@KaraokeNig]

TheBushdoctor68 DA DA TA TA DA ..

[@psycho0815]

Wasn't that John?

[@diamondmoti]

TheBushdoctor68 that's neo in the matrix the 1.

[@pvmelite4230]

Michael Sykes his full name is john Connor

[@LewysC]

Turns out he works for IBM now!! So proud of this guy :D

[@markhunt840]

Cool, at least it wasn't APPLE

[@sn31t33]

has he got the 125$/Month license now for free? :D

[@sik59rt]

@@markhunt840 you use a Android I guess? Go figure.

[@GMK4EVER]

I am happy to hear that! IBM better hang on to this one... that's a rare breed of human. I can only hope to have an offspring like this one day!

[@carguycarson]

Source? I'd love an update

[@TioDave]

Thanks Liz and Joe for being great parents!

[@chriscook8773]

I wish I could give this more than one thumbs up.

[@galacticx738]

You can always create more google accounts... ;-)

[@oli1658]

:( now i can never like this comment

[@Thatguy101987]

Stick a sheriff's hat on him, and he's Carl from the walking dead.

[@ChrisBenard]

i.imgur.com/7UiyQLm.png

[@edwardkirtland3096]

Chris Benard i love you

[@Thatguy101987]

imgur.com/oRhD1q3

[@ChrisBenard]

CORALLL THAT KILLZ PEOPLE

[@kchristiansen]

Thatguy101987 Poke his eye out as well.

[@JMS_Hunter]

Jesus Christ... swapped my old HDD for a SSD on my laptop. I tried to clone the OS SSD to USB cable wasn't working so after 10 min I said screw it fresh install. And this kid sets up a god damned mainframe on his basement. Kudos for not giving up.

[@commodoresixfour7478]

I bought 3 Commodore Pet computers. I just thought they looked cool. One friend of mine decided to fire them up and diagnose them. I was baffled that he was able to figure out what needed to be fixed. I mean that's cool, but what's the point. What would be worth running on them. Then at World of Commodore 2015, I watched someone making music from it. I guess that's the point of the community. I just wanted them because I'm a collector, but because I have this community I can get them working and actually have a purpose for them.

[@schlomoshekelstein908]

@@commodoresixfour7478 and then you ascended and became Commodore 64 Man

[@eyealienit]

@ war games hilarious. This dude can seriously fuck up North Korea for the next ten years. Not a bad come up for $350

[@ShadowDeus]

So you tried to clone windows 10? Your best bet would have been to use eufiyumi and create a pendrive... thats the easy part though... where most fail is trying to get the pendrive to boot first... but again if you understand PCs then its as easy as changing the BIOS on you PC... Im a distrohopper my pendrive is set up to boot; AndroidX86 Debian Kali Kodachi LinuxMint Porteus Tails SteamOS SuperGamerOS Voyager Windows10

[@stalin200000]

@@ShadowDeus u are cool, and he is like " USB cable wasn't working"

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

Mainframes are definitely a unique experience. When I was 17 or so, I got a job at a datacenter for a local bank as a mainframe operator in the evenings. They used an ANCIENT NCR mainframe. Before you guess that I must be in my 70s (NCR hasn't made mainframes in quite awhile...), that was in 1995 or so. And they hadn't made mainframes for years at THAT point. It had the vacuum tape drives, took up most of a large room (with its high speed impact printers), and was screamingly loud. I worked there while I went to college and a couple years before I left they got a phonecall from a restaurant in North Carolina. It turned out that restaurant owned the only other mainframe of that model still in operation... and they were getting rid of it. They offered to give it to us for free if we would come and haul it away. And that's how the bank got a disaster recovery plan at one of the branches.

[@chuckblazek1117]

Good 4 u dude. I started learning ibm 1401 MF @ 15 while while in high school. I've celebrated my silver birthday last month. ..

[@msquared6695]

this video reminds me of the time i had to unscrew the back of my sons RC car to change the batteries

[@JaekSean]

M squared - Please make a video

[@sims5819]

fucking funny. Like probably the first time I've laughed out loud that hard in years. Thank you

[@DerpGamingURL]

that's fucking sad

[@manictiger]

Did you try to remoisterize the dingle bop with fleeb juice? Sometimes that helps make the plumbus usable again.

[@aliservan7188]

You been watching Rick and Morty again? O_o

[@nomdeplume639]

Smiled a lot, laughed a lot, took some nostalgic walks. Great presentation, great vibes. Message for mum and dad. Great job guys. Proud as I bet.

[@tekvax01]

Funny.... When I was his age, i installed an IBM system/32 in my basement, and had a spare in my garage, and installed a 220 service in the basement to power it. Later in college, I installed a Perkin Elmer 3200 in a friends parents basement, installed another 220 service. We ran an UUCP news group and email server for several years, and was one of the first ISP's in the Niagara Region! We also heated and dried out the basement floor, and raised the electric bill by $500 dollars per month! A few years later helped move a VAX 11/870 to another basement, but if never made it from the garage, and was later taken to the dump... So I guess I'm 2 for 3!! Good Job, Conner!! Cheers, Dan

[@randomcommenterfromdownund8949]

+dan braun I wanted a PDP-11/23 in the mid-1980's... Physics was getting rid of it and I thought, "Great toy!". Parents thought: Not gonna happen.

[@Conmega1]

Wow, System/32s are quite rare nowadays, I doubt you still have them but if you do I would love to see some pictures! Awesome! I love hearing about stories of people's experiences with older machines, just like that, starting one of the first ISPs in your area out of the basement of a friend's house. Would have loved to experienced making an ISP, it sounds like an awesome challenge. -Connor Krukosky

[@spyone4828]

Around 1986 a small university near me (it had recently changed it's name to "(name deleted) University" from "(name deleted) Community College"), which had for its computer system a PDP-11 from the 70's they had bought second-hand, decided to buy a backup. The new PDP-11 came in a desktop case (the old one was bigger than a washing machine, and with all of its accessories it filled a classroom). I wanted a PDP-11 so badly, but it was way out of my price range.

[@tekvax]

...and I know exactly which community/university you speak of!

[@pteppig]

Around 15 years ago, most people around here (europe) only had modem connections, smaller villiages were not being offered DLS connection. Me and a few friends took ccna classes after shool and thought about how to fix that problem. We found an industrial area next to 1 villiage and got our first "lightning fast" 4 Mbit connection. Got an old HP proliant 19" server and built a proxy. The more interresting part came with wifi connections and self build yagi antennas for each house and adding some converted computers as routers to further distribute that network. Shortly after the first few reliable connected houses, it became a non profit organisation which serves around 400 housholds. I moved away, but the last state i remeber were 8x32 MBit not that impressive, but its whats aviable there. Proxys and Loadbalancers on vmware on 4 proliants + hot spares. And i would never want to miss ILO on a remote server. Its still running and being upgraded, because who knew, the telco companies are still to lazy to upgrade the lines there. At (mandantory) military service, i went into com-tec. Travel the world, meet interresting people and connect them. At the moment im working on a similar project which will provide faster access for a whole region, one handfull of villages at a time

[@michaelkennedy8573]

"You'll probably be getting a call soon from IBM asking you to upgrade" Brilliant!

[@johnrichardson544]

Just as well it wasn't Microsoft! They'd just shove upgrades down his throat, without giving him the choice first!

[@maschwab63]

They offered him z/OS 1.13 at 3MSU for $128 a month. Then they hired him to work at Poughopsky on the condition he started college.

[@brandong.1857]

He did NOT give up! Incredible persistence. Appreciated his since of humor during the presentation.

[@paultreneary]

"I think you've raised the bar for what all of us expect from our kids now" - hilarious

[@kennkong61]

This young man has a screw loose. Kudos to his parents for not tightening it!

[@johnsullivan5101]

perfect - thanks

[@LightWingStudios]

We should all be so lucky. :)

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

I feel his screws are pretty thight.

[@BeCarefulWithAI]

He is perfect the way he is.

[@MrJools70]

Far from it,This kid`s screws are exact down to the last 1000th of an inch,,VERY switched on and by now has probably gone very far since he did this,Great speaker,FANTASTIC grasp on tech and a TOTAL understanding of how tech works and takes the time to find out

[@Kisai_Yuki]

The patience Connor shows with getting that z890 to work is amazing.

[@fowlie12180]

We need more of you around. Fantastic work and presentation, please keep and going.

[@sandberg420]

TLDR; 18 yo buys mainframe. runs into 8 different problems, including electrical engineering, writing a working OS, storage conversion and a host of other complicated problems. Wows room of older tech elites. Decent topic, great speaker.

[@Tan-dp5zt]

thanks fam

[@TehJayden]

You make it sound as if he programmed an operating system, which he did not.

[@LinLinchiko]

at least he doesn't make it sound like he programmed a clock for school

[@thecump]

Should be TLDW (too long didn't watch) :D

[@MelindaGreen]

Or TL;DW. Gotta watch those semicolons if you want to be a programmer.

[@LanIost]

For anyone wondering when the Z890 came out, it was ~2004. I didn't see it mentioned.

[@minor25]

kinda. he said a 10 years old machine or 10 years ago the machine cost$350k

[@HaveYouTriedGuillotines]

Aside from IO bandwidth, the small linux server I'm in the process of building is way more powerful than this thing from the 2000s, lol. Especially the CPU, some googling suggests that a 32 core z990 can manage almost 10,000 MIPs, and the CPU I'm getting can actually manage more than 50,000. And that's rounding up for the z990 and down for the Ryzen. It's kinda insane, really. Moore's law is clearly still in full effect.

[@MmeHyraelle]

@@HaveYouTriedGuillotines Moore's law is actually over. Silicon cannot keep up.

[@HaveYouTriedGuillotines]

@@MmeHyraelle That is the dumbest phrase I think I've ever heard anyone say. Only in the most literal sense can that be interpreted as true, which is missing the point when the industry is dominated by constantly improved manufacturing, and lateral design. "Silicon cannot keep up." With what? You say that like there's an alternative that doesn't require near absolute zero temperatures and a massive cooling apparatus that chugs power.

[@davy_K]

I think it's very important for people to learn how older hardware works as understanding the fundamentals make you appreciate modern machines but gives you great insight which has to be an advantage in a career.

[@GotYourWallet]

His dad seems really cool. Excavating because he knows it has to be done.

[@substance1]

This young man did something that lifts my spirit. His quest for big iron was driven by pure passion for discovery and wonderment. These are things that I strive to have as much as possible since that is what makes life fun. My hat is off to this individual and congratulate him for a job well done.

[@__-cd9ug]

I don't know why, but KZbin recommended this to me. I understood about 1,5% of this speech but it was enjoyable so... thanks I guess!

[@__-cd9ug]

(I'll blog it don't worry)

[@cchampi]

kilo-charlie

[@stephennielsen8722]

Spi Rale your algorithms likely indicate that you are eclectic and hard to fit. Feel lucky you are not being recommended Kim Kardashian, monster truck or wrestling vids

[@__-cd9ug]

Thank you and algorithms then!

[@loadedhot1034]

Spi Rale me to, I like listening to lectures about things I know nothing about..

[@MrEnygma1000]

Built my first desktop when I was 18 with parts I scavenged from the dumpster and repaired. Wanted to develop what I had but my parents said that I will study medicine or I wont get a dime for my tuition. Now I'm 25, in my 4th year in med school and skipping classes to teach myself mathematics, programming, linux and electronics from scratch. I believe I'll get there someday, but its not today.

[@raymaster]

poor you..

[@xyronexus]

Are you there yet? :)

[@spvillano]

Diagnostic imaging is nothing but computing intensive. Got my first Sun workstation from a hospital diagnostic imaging lab, as it was replaced with a superior, more modern unit.

[@tainicon4639]

Do computational studies (systems biology, bioinformatics, computational neuroscience)

[@illuminaughty8451]

I hope that someday you’re able to do what you love...and then someday use such a unique skill set to make a difference.

[@addison1977]

I love the key punch joke bit, he's so used to people not getting it, then he realizes he's among his own :), and loosens up so much

[@FORTRAN4ever]

The keypunch is a word processing machine without a back spacing key. Used them in college and early in my career.

[@timtam2687]

Great to see a young person with respect for tradition of core computing development. Unlike so many other young trendy bro-grammers who discount tradition and experience as irrelevant, this young man is truly learning and will go very far. Well done - keep it up.

[@England91]

I don't know why this in my recommend but I'm glad it was. I may not understood most it but still found it fun and interested.

[@josht2454]

There is a huge difference between knowing how to use a computer very well such as a network engineer, software developer, it support etc, this kid understands how the computer functions and that's a skill that is very much in demand. Kid will go far.

[@dlwatib]

Makes me feel so old. IBM came out with the z series shortly after I left the mainframe industry and now they are being sold for scrap and kids are buying them with their allowance.

[@garychap8384]

Honestly, I'm pretty certain the scrap value alone is higher than he paid for it... so yeah, they're going for less than scrap value it seems. I'd love a Z-Series, but I'd kill for an old Prime 750 running Primos ... I guess you never forget your first taste of big metal, eh? The beige and orange colour scheme is a bit awkward, but hey... it was the 70's ; ) My current home system is a beowulf cluster that clocks in at 2,047 Kgs. Three 36U IBM (old round-holed) 19" Chassis, with the SxS attachment kits - because who doesn't love a nicely contoured IBM door ... and housing a bank of 3x3 Dell m1000e blade chassis. It's a monster. But I'd love some 70's metal running a few VT100 or 3270 EBDIC terminals... I even have three working ADM-3A's just sitting waiting ; )

[@HighestRank]

Scrap? The landfill probably would have charged the school a fee per weight of e-waste, and they would have had to hire a hauler or move it themselves on top of that, too.

[@garychap8384]

@@HighestRank actually, there's a fair amount of value in metals, some precious and semi-precious, which can be industrially recovered. Then there's the not-inconsiderable bare weight of the steel chassis and all that wiring get's its plastics stripped and the copper is melted down for resuse. Of course, if you just choose to drive it off for landfill then I doubt anyone is going to mention it or offer you anything... and, yes, if you look naive they may indeed try charging you for the privilege. But there's a reason scrap-men are quite happy to pick up your old broken washing machine for free. The copper windings of the motor are cut off and the steel is all melted down... but older gold-laiden processors? Heavy unadulterated copper heatsinks? 100kg steel frames? ... well, that's a payday. Just the external chassis, bare, is easily worth about £300 scrap before you start chemical reclamations on gold and copper bearing components. The real reason a lot of it goes to scrap isn't so much to do with a lack of intrinsic value - it's often to zero-rate it for tax purpose (depending on tax jurisdiction).

[@pssst3]

What makes me feel old is that IBM came out with the PC 10 years after I got a degree in engineering and I spent my last 30 years working as an IT network systems engineer. The pace of change over that time increased exponentially. Non-tech bosses that required few new skills, little new knowledge were paid better.

[@garychap8384]

@@pssst3 oh, I don't know... it had it's bright moments. For a while in the late 90's up to the mid 2000's I was averaging over £600 a day, in N&T and most of that was on a single cert. Boefore that - in the 80's I was making excellent money writing C for people who used COBOL … and then by the 90's I was making big money maintaining COBOL for people who hadn't paid me in the 80's … I have a friend that recently (2016) helped a behemoth telecoms giant move away from legacy COBOL on AS/400s (the AS400's had been removed and replaced with fast virtual appliances running slow ugly 70's code) … basically, they emulated their old system for decades, terrified of their own high integration... and my friend got 6-figures plus expenses and bonus, because you just can't find people with a beard long enough to be comfortable in 70's architecture running on modern virtualisation. Thing is, every lucrative niche has its time, the trick with niches is avoiding getting stuck in them. Visit them all, sure, but keep moving forward looking for niches your history of niche-hopping uniquely equips you for. In IT you just have to keep moving or you drown. It's useful to remember that everyone and his grandmother (and his grandmothers parrot) is flocking to study for the job that you are doing now... so, always be re-training the new specialisations - and remember you're a commodity - like a coin, you're not worth anything sitting in someones pocket - your value is always found in the market. I retired at 37, but couldn't bear it after being so active, so a year later I started up a consultancy. I think a good IT rule of thumb is : Every 12 months, if you're not doing something new, you're doing something wrong ; )

[@fabiboiii]

Wow, at the end I was really surprised the crowd was full of old peeps having a blast with his story! Very well done

[@SvenVoelk]

yep, well. that crowd of old peeps actually understands what that kid went thru to this point to learn and make it happen. as a sys admin myself, i admire that kid.

[@Kramblueify]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. I very impressive young man. As an ex-IBM System Engineer from the 80's through, and as one a young lad doing what Connor was with very old computers in my time, I have fond memories of IBM and all the great computer tech that Connor has enjoyed. I do hope Connor your experience has proved to be not only fun but very memorable and you are now well on your way to a great career.

[@thomas.moerman]

Almost qualifies as stand-up comedy, good job.

[@Aff3ct000]

Thomas Moerman A little dry.

[@laceflower_]

not dry, just niche :P

[@geoffallan3804]

When I was 18 I got a job at a seismic data processing company running the VAX 11/780. Unfortunately I spent too much time on my own stuff, playing with DECUS downloads, etc. and they let me go. Ah, the memories of being 18 and having a $2 million dollar computer room to myself for the night shift... (Added: they also had several Raytheons... early 70s era computers fed by punched cards)

[@fifski]

I was clueless like 80% of the time when I watched the presentation but I kept watching. This kid is going places! Great testimony of passion and determination! All the best in the future!

[@DefaultFlame]

The place he went was IBM, where he works on mainframe firmware since shortly after the video.

[@jebjebber4179]

375k down to 237$... God save the queen and auctions... Great PP

[@CockatooDude]

GovDeals is simply amazing for shit like this. I mean for christs sake there's an entire ferry for sale for 100 grand.

[@TheX-3d]

I have 41 years doing this for a living. For me, it was HP minis with core stack memory. Love this video, well done!!!

[@carriersignal]

Very good presentation. Great speaker who is capable of holding peoples attention. I like the fact that he repeats the questions at the end. Something others could learn from. I'm sure he will do well.

[@tomc0240]

Sweet baby jesus give this man a job.

[@keownfam]

+Tom Courtney Maybe if he could make a clock, then he'd get a job ;)

[@Alex-oz9eh]

Wes Keown nice meme

[@HighlanderRick]

IBM did

[@Spontainousteve]

HighlanderRick being funny or srs? Source?

[@eidodk]

www.fastcompany.com/3063265/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/this-teenage-ibm-employee-got-his-job-by-buying-an-old-mai

[@pythonprojectsforwindows6795]

DASD = direct access storage device i.e. hard disk LPAR = logical partition IPL = initial program load i.e. reboot

[@DrorF]

Thanks. If only he had used more understandable terms like these, the whole talk would have been much more interesting (to most people here)!

[@jimbarino2]

@@DrorF It comes from dealing with MainFrames. IBM has it's own language, and if you spend some time around it you become accustomed to it.

[@IyariMali]

@@jimbarino2 All tech talk honestly any Jargon

[@1voiceofstl]

cics = customer Information control system

[@menyasavut3959]

oh my god, oh my god, the flashback. DASD, IPL, TSO, GUTS, CICS, RPG, JCL ... I feel sick, like throwing up my coffee

[@Nathan15038]

People might be saying that he stuttering or fumbling his words, but to be honest he’s doing way better than like in front of a bunch of people and when you’re asking for something to like higher up

[@wickedloudone]

Wow, nice presentation, much better delivery than I could have ever imagined doing at 18. He followed his passion through to getting this mainframe up and running, networked like a pro to find the missing pieces and for what it was, he got it going. Good on you Connor, hope you've had fun learning about this monster.

[@YUCON]

man.. i have no idea what you're talking about for like 80% of the time but I am so very proud of you. you're such a smart guy and I am happy to read in the comments that you are now working for IBM. I'm happy for you man. good for you! you're a truly amazing talent.

[@wildwood639]

I know nothing about this subject but was engaged from the start by this young mans enthusiasm.determination.ability.and not least humour.all the best Connor!

[@warmowski]

Next step: launch an airline, bank or national government department in the basement.

[@MrLampbus]

When I was his age I got hold of an IBM System/34 that was being scrapped. It got installed into my parent's garage so at least it was easy to roll in... I had to acquire low cost terminals and twinax cables and connectors to make up my own 'network'. One of the four drives suffered a head crash (possibly due to being moved on a truck, even though all the head and platter locks were in place). I used the various diag tools on 8" floppy, the extensive physical paper documentation and then a wire wrap tool to convert it into a three drive machine. Learned loads. I also bought a 5362 and printer and worked on some custom RPG II software for a local company. Sadly it all went in a skip when my parents downsized... sad day but I still have insufficient space for lumpy kit like that.

[@stonytina01will-not-be-ban78]

I once bought a ball-in-a-cup game. Couldn't even catch the damn ball.

[@iWinnipeg]

"head and platter locks" Woke up this morning feeling good. Now I just feel old. Gonna 'park' my MFM and go back to bed.

[@markanderson8066]

Congrats to Connor and his wonderfully supportive parents! Well done! I find that far too many of my students lack his inquisitive nature.

[@822437]

Damn he's a damn good presenter as a 18 year old.

[@stt.9433]

maybe for an electronics guy

[@ivanstroganov5458]

Maukie Paukie well you are hating ob the kid.

[@KyleNally]

As someone who has taken a college public speaking course and seen how badly even people who are uncomfortable in front of a small, closed room of their peers can crash and burn when giving a speech, this kid is VERY good at the long-form presentation. He's fine for *any* age. I've seen professionals give presentations that are far worse than this. Hell, I've seen speakers in TED talks that are worse than this.

[@LukaSauperl]

Fine, yes. But I wouldn't call him good, but that's just my opinion what do I know? :P

[@Melvin420x12]

Mortuus Why not good? Give arguments dude. We have nothing with your opinion unless you give some damn arguments :)

[@alanb8971]

I think this machine was introduced in 2004. Amazing that you can buy it for $237 after only 11 years.

[@Lasseu]

+Alan Brown and 8Gigs of ram in it!

[@salami99]

More than the ultrabooks.

[@pteppig]

Technology marches on, but its even more amazing what you can run on this "outdated" hardware. The same ist true for network equipment etc.

[@eatsleepdie8808]

actually it isn't that suprising because at launch this thin cost a pretty penny

[@davidmoore657]

When the Sun i386 came out they cost 28k each. 5 yrs. later I got 2 of them for free.

[@n0tyham]

I bought an IBM 370/145 mainframe (1500 lb) in 1979 for $1500 when I was 23 years old. It was installed it in a bedroom in my house! I had a 9 track vacuum tape drive and two 10 MB disk drives. I installed the 1500 lb motor-generator power converter cabinet in the basement below. The real problem was it needed 400Hz three-phase power, so we had to so create custom power supplies.

[@chuckblazek1117]

That 370/145 great for small MVS & DOS MF applications. DD statements/ DLBL&EXTENT. I met my beautiful wife at work, she a data entry 😍 lady, me a 360/30 DOS application programmer.

[@martintruebner6403]

Great presentation, thank you. If you ever get around to z/VSE- give me a holler - I sure will help.

[@rty1955]

Is VSE still around? I LOVE the DOS days. The old rivalry if MVS V. DOS etc. I always chuckled when EVERYTHING in MVS began with IE. Like IEBGENER, IEBCOPY etc. Loved DITTO too :) I begain on a 407 plugboard wiring to 1401, 360, 370, 4300 series, s/390 etc. I was a sysyems programmer for many decades. I worked at a bank and my boss demanded I put MVS on a 4381 box. After telling him it would run like crap he didnt care because he only knew MVS and said DOS is dead. I installed it and we ran it for 3 months, then as a test, I installed DOS/VSE-SP on it and jobs ran MUCH faster. He got fired a month later. I did things with a mainframe that IBM said could not be done, like got it connected to the ATM network that used a proprietary communication protocol. I got COBOL programs to dynamically call other COBOL programs. I could wallpaper my house with bug fix notifications from IBM. I was on a first name basis with PSRs haha

[@BenDeSwert666]

kid, you are a fucking legend. i salute you!

[@sfperalta]

Excellent presentation. Well done! Mainframes are their own world and the knowledge he has demonstrated so far is impressive, especially being self-taught.

[@sinisterace5272]

"I know its a bad idea because china has been trying to log into it" I lost it

[@ArtisChronicles]

oddly enough China tried to access my gmail as well.

[@LifeisReal1990]

Was that a hacking attempt by China or something? What would China want with a basic website?

[@greenaum]

They don't usually know what it is til they've logged into it. Presumably they're expecting a generic PC to enslave in a botnet. They send out automated hacking attempts, thousands at a time.

[@CelGenStudios]

Connor, you are amazing.

[@pccalcio]

I didn't understand a single word he said (my fault not his, obv.) but I watched the entire video, amazed by his passion. just wow.

[@DuckieMcduck]

I really wish I had half the passion this man has. What people can accomplish when they have the interest and will to do things is amazing, makes me wonder what would have happened if I had not spent most of my time doing dumb shit like playing video games but instead learning and applying something useful.

[@Fomotomo1]

DuckieMcduck i'm 34 years old and I start college in the fall, it's never too late to get back up and get your life started

[@TheArnoldification]

+Nige N That sounds less like an issue with the education system and more of a personal gripe of yours. What you consider wasted time could have been valuable time to another student. It is unfair to try and discourage others because you personally did not find success with it.

[@TheArnoldification]

Strive for enjoyment in life, and not necessarily success. Enjoyment leads to success more often than success leads to enjoyment. Like, if you are pressured into going to college for engineering or something similar but do not like math, science, or like understanding why things work like they do, then you probably shouldn't major in it. Keep in mind passion can also be discovered later on in life. It's never a bad idea to try new things, either. My suggestion is really seek application for your passion rather than having other people suggest or tell you what to do for a career. Personally I am fairly fortunate. I have always had interests in numbers and general mathematics. Although my primary hobby was (is) gaming, I stuck to a secondary interest (which was mathematics) and found electrical engineering to be a good fit for me, as concepts and applications of concepts like signal processing are heavily math based. That was pretty rambly, but hopefully I said something that made you feel a bit better about this. Ultimately, just try to enjoy life as much as you can, as cliche as that saying is.

[@Roobah]

I feel like I just saw a presentation at the Homebrew Computer Club. Thank you.

[@mdlindsey]

"I'll give you the IP you can connect, I'll give you root access you can blow it up I have a backup and I'd think it was funny." Good sport lol all hail the geeks for greater good!

[@SarenArterius]

I will be killed by my parents if I buy that because a mainframe will definitely not fit in a house of Hong Kong size.

[@Salafrance]

+Saren Arterius Maybe you should just buy a larger mainframe, leave some of the disk cabinets empty, and move in? It could start a trend ^^

[@SugarBeetMC]

+Salafrance Heating included :D

[@QuickQuips]

Try a server. A small Ikea Lack can fit it. Run VMs, play with VMWare ESXi.

[@patrickbossman4114]

Connor might be ready for time sharing by now... lol

[@blahgha5905]

fuck all of u including the family

[@daGrobie]

Impressive work and presentation! Kudos to your parents

[@tombarringer2722]

Kid, you're doing brilliantly. Not just in the resurrection of this monstrosity but in the background knowledge you showed and the attitudes to pull it off. Keep it up - and thank your parents for bringing you up right. :D

[@MikeFuryTech]

Very impressive. We need more like this young man in I.T. today.

[@joansmith69]

This is the nerdiest stand up I've ever seen. "Even though I have no idea about what anything means, I was still super fascinated. Cool.

[@jimsmith77901]

In 1998 I was at Ohio State University Surplus, where I saw a Digital Equipment Corporation VAX 8550 and its peripherals sitting on the loading dock. I inquired what was going to happen to it, and was told that the scrap man was coming for it. Having been a student in the engineering department at the time of this machine's installation, I asked if I could have it instead. About a dozen 5' tall racks full of the CPU, several tape drives and lots of disk drives (19" rack mount drives, each 10.5" in height and with a capacity of 456 mb) it took five trips with my sister's van to get it all home. It took 3 days to disassemble everything and move it into my mom's basement, and upon reassembly, I finally remembered that it took 3 phase power. Of course a residential home only has single phase power. I could power up individual racks of disks and tape drives, but not the CPU. No problem, I had a MicroVAX II, also purchased from surplus, with the correct tape and disk interfaces, so at least I could use the storage components. It was quite a sight, taking up half the basement, about 450 sq ft. In 2000 I moved to Florida, leaving all my DEC Stuff in mom's basement. When my mom moved in 2004, my poor sister was tasked with the cleanup. She had to pay nearly a thousand dollars to get all the electronics carted away. I wish I still had all that equipment, as it's now becoming more valuable, due to most of it being scrapped years ago. It was a fun adventure at the time. Owning my own house now, would I do it again? Probably lol!

[@chuckblazek1117]

Great story dude! We all have a 6 inch tool in our hands that has more capacity, power, RAM, ROM than my1st IBM1401 MF. So really need a big A box to take up space in a home? Learn Android, IPhone, C++, Python or whatever language a cellphone executes?

[@urworstnightmares614]

this video has the most nerdy jokes I've ever seen on KZbin and i love it, great work, very impressive.

[@chrismoore9997]

But can it run Crysis?

[@KevinDaheimAllein]

If Microsoft would have declared FSX to open source, one could port it - many powerfull processors for scenery rendering ;-)

[@Gracee40]

It can run a GUI interface. Do you think it can run Crysis?

[@o_-_o]

Ok, but can I watch porn on it?

[@chrismoore9997]

No, it was supposed to be funny, this system is not intended to execute graphics at all.

[@o_-_o]

What a useless piece of metal ;-DD

[@keithhughes1013]

I'm new to software engineering. I didn't understand almost anything that was explained here (excepting accessing the text internet). But what I did understand is he put in a lot of hard work and effort to get that thing up and running. I truly enjoy seeing people solve problems that at first glance seem unsolvable.

[@mikeklaene4359]

Interesting. The heavy iron world needs new blood. First learned programming on a 360/30 with 32K of core under DOS/360 using assembler. No degree (yet) and all OJT and the green and white 'Programmed Instruction' books. Fun times. My first 5 years in the industry was all IBM mainframe, primarily using assembler, with some COBOL and PL/1. After 20 years of being away from mainframes, in 1995 I interviewed for a position with a local company that had six 390 systems. One of the guys on the interview committee asked if I could still do assembler t which I replied: "If 'D2' is still the op-code for an 'MVC' and 'D5' for the 'CLC', then yes." . I still love programming and systems.

[@randomcommenterfromdownund8949]

+mike klaene Good stuff! An Amdahl 370 clone is what I learned on... PL/1 and 370 BAL, and much hair-tearing-out by the admins of the school I attended, as I learned about MVS internals, spelunked my way through system tables, later converted my manual system-table-scanning to GQSCAN-based scanning, and got access to all manner of things by learning how to work around ACF2 by using another system program the university used, to assign myself the privileges required for whatever I wanted to do. The least supportive of the people there chased me for years, uncomfortable with the idea of a technically-inclined young female, until this made him unwelcome at the school. The most supportive gave me manuals and respected that I just wanted to learn. :-) I had one of those experiences where I went back to the mainframe world after 5 years away from it, brought in as a contractor to convert a PC-based calculation program to the mainframe. After the first 30 seconds, during which I was confused at why the line feed key didn't let me log on (LOL), I stopped trying to remember how to do it, and just did it. The client had planned on sending me to an ISPF class, having contracted for a PC C programmer, having no idea that the mainframe was my native stomping ground. Needless to say, they didn't send me to the class. Within 2 weeks, someone in the area (the systems group) called out a question about how to find a control block, and without even thinking, my brain fully back in the school computer room, I yelled out the answer, because in the school computer room, that's how the hackers worked. The office stopped. Heads peeked over partitions. Was that that 25-year-old C programmer? The girl? I was offered a job within days, but a non-compete agreement with my then-employer made it impossible to make a move. I haven't touched a mainframe since, and have gone on to do some decent UNIX work including some at lower levels, but I'll never know a system as well as I knew MVS back in the day.

[@mikeklaene4359]

+Random Hi Random! Good going there. Where I learned programming, half of the staff was female. I was mentored by a lady who was the same age as my Mom. I had just turned 23 at the time. Do not know why more girls do not get into tech. My 13 YO grand daughter says that the cool girls do not do that. For 'high' level languages, C is my favorite. It works the way I think. I have been retired for over a year now and 'play' with Arduino and learning Swift for Mac and iOS. Swift is interesting but there is just too much OOP magic going on for my taste. Luckily, Xcode for the Mac supports straight C but I have yet to figure out how to write a GUI app with C. Hopefully you can keep getting paid to play with the toys!

[@MrHayada]

I have no idea why I'm watching this. But as a tech geek, I find this Interesting. Never worked on a potato-age mainframe. Question is, Why are you non-techy peeps watching this?

[@cedrikmartin4853]

MrHayada i dont know, its the second time i watch it, its almost like he is hypnotising me

[@SirKingHoff]

Because he's young and aspiring?

[@Zaprozhan]

It's a good story. A somewhat Quixotic quest, successful! This guy probably learned so goddamn much.

[@sanny8716]

Because I want to be a tech geek, but I don't have enough intelligence and/or time, but curiosity is still hell of a thing

[@hhhgggds]

@@sanny8716 theres plenty in " programming " fields who are not very smart and couldnt even install windows and they are "programmers" now :) trust me i know of plenty ppl like that. You are just lazy, overcome it.

[@defeatSpace]

Stepdad and I had plans for something like this before he passed away when I was 15, he was a phenomenal person.

[@interestedinstuff]

So cool. I've worked with guys this straight forward and persistent. He has the right mindset for the field. I wish him and his family well. Be interesting to see what happens in his future.

[@doorran]

This is why older IT specialist intuitively understand somethings that elude modern IT folks. They grew up with it and learned how everything works at a basic level from the school of hard knocks. Congratulations on graduating from that school.

[@thdotaku]

Watched this video with a difference of 3 years,it was definetely more amazing the 2nd time.

[@Quonchon]

All i can do is replace the chrome icon with a .bat opening infinite calculators

[@hotfreshrider]

TheEpongeMan C:\DOS, C:\DOS\RUN, RUN\DOS\RUN

[@kellyjackson7889]

/FORREST/

[@TheCanterlonian]

how is that useful in any way?

[@XelaShade]

it all starts from little things like that :)

[@DarkerSavant]

hotfreshrider LMAO

[@connorbailey308]

"Carl from The Walking Dead buys a mainframe"

[@TotalRookie_LV]

So, in essence he turned his basement into a "Fallout" bunker - it has a mainframe and a small screen that mostly shows just text.

[@666Makkura666]

Imagine LOST. Punch the numbers or the apocalypse will be on your doorstep!

[@rty1955]

This machine has ZERO graphics capability. No need for it. Its meant to PROCESS huge amounts of data, drawing cute pictures is not what this machine is built for

[@AndersonBassani]

Very funny presentation! I agree, he raised the bar!

[@jeffzebert4982]

My mother went to Tulsa Junior College at a time when mainframe computers were still programmed with keypunch cards instead of terminals. Basically, you would use a keyboard to punch a pattern of holes into the card; and then afterwards, you would feed the card through a card reader, praying to whatever deity you believe in that your program has no errors in it.

[@SwankeyMonkey]

25:00 Greetings Professor Falken. Shall we play a game?

[@hiteck007]

Your parents are Saints. Good job on the restore. It's a shame you couldn't get your hands on a working Reel to Reel data tape drive. They always look impressive. I scored 2 motors out of one and their the size of a tractor starter Motor but so efficient. Keep tinkering mate, thats what I did when I was young & good fun it was too.

[@eamonia]

What a charming individual. He's probably about 25 now and I bet he's probably doing *pretty* well for himself. Here's to ya, buddy. This was such a a treat to watch. Thank you.

[@duncandl910]

you are also charming!! and he is great!

[@castirondude]

When I saw "mainframe" I was thinking of something from the 1970's , but to my surprise these things were made like 2005-ish. $300k wow !!

[@abacab87]

My Dad started back in 68, the computer took up about 1/2 acre (if I remember right in my young mind)

[@jovetj]

Mainframes are pretty awesome. Not for the feint of heart, though!

[@danpueppke9577]

I know, right? I was thinking IBM 360. Learned Assembler and punch cards on that. Massive 5 Meg. RAM

[@BamaChad-W4CHD]

Great video of a very interesting 18 year old. I wasted my teenage years. This guy is going places

[@kevinguy3036]

That was a fairly new machine, when I started on mainframe machines they filled several floors of a building, when I shut it down it was smaller than my fridge and most of it was air

[@EgoIsFlawed]

great talk. great parents. huge potential.

[@betamax80]

I swear I could watch this video over and over again! I've revisited must be 5 times now :)

[@316minister]

I love everything about this video! Such a great kid, and great parents for indulging their son's genius. As an old data tech who spent many freezing hours in 80's era computer rooms all over SoCal, I recognize much of the components here! Great presentation!

[@rltwigg]

My first computer I programmed was an IBM 1401 and then followed by an IBM System/360. Loved 1401 Autocoder and S/360 Macro Assembler. 41 years later I retired from IT work. What a ride!

[@videosuperhighway7655]

Lol guy is a great speaker, great sense of humor. We need more like him.

[@diogenes6809]

here I am in 2019, thinking the same thing. still down.

[@mech4929]

what a fascinating presentation, from a talented lad, I thought I'd been watching for 10mins but 45mins had gone by. wishing you all the best in your future endeavours.

[@superamazeing]

*CARL!?!?!?!!?!!?!?!?*

[@Big-Wonka]

Alex Coral*

[@andrew0002]

Alex Mom is kill Coral. MOM IS KILL!

[@yugoasniningpura1537]

sweet!

[@andriusandrau]

CJ! Dayum son, it's good to see you!

[@ironzingotz]

not carl *C0RRUHLLL*

[@genma986]

I wish I had a mainframe when I was 18 :)

[@genma986]

***** I never said it was easy I know it's not plugging in a router you got at bestbuy. Difficult, challenge accepted.

[@taunteratwill1787]

+Rickard Johansson Fuck the mainframe I wish I was 18 again!

[@taunteratwill1787]

+Jose Francisco Medeiros Only the knowledge of the mistakes you made is enough.

[@taunteratwill1787]

+Jose Francisco Medeiros What his father and mother do? Trying to get him adopted by someone I gues.

[@genma986]

***** Regardless of costs it's great with parents that support their kids in their endeavors.

[@XantheFIN]

I didn't understand much myself as 23 years old. But i really liked how he did go forward and didn't let to things to stop. And very positive how parents were supportive!

[@Nocare89]

I had a desktop around the same age as that mainframe and it took over 12 hours to install suse, or any non-windows os really. So glad that's gotten better.

[@PearComputingDevices]

Wow... I am sure your parents love the electric bills. But that is amazing and I am amazed to see a kid so young, yet confident to get on stage like this, let alone buy a server and reuse it. On many levels your parents must not just be really decent people to allow that, but proud. Just look at this kid. I am almost 42, I've been in the computing world for nearly 30 years. My first was an Apple II, not Apple IIe, that came later but an Apple II and over the years I have collected and worked on thousands if not millions of computers, but I think a server would have been the end of it for me on so many levels. I love IBM hardware but even now, 42 I don't think I could pull this off. My conservative thought processes would stop me in my tracks if my wife didn't first and yet that's a huge accomplishment. Your a very bright kid.