Tell HN: IBM free z/OS classes return, low-cost license available on completing | Hacker News Reader

Tell HN: IBM free z/OS classes return, low-cost license available on completing

58 pointsKarunamon14 comments

I've lamented here many times that if you want to dabble in the mainframe world, that there were no resources available to mere mortals. That has changed as of few months ago.

IBM's "Master the Mainframe" platform has been renamed to zXplore and been reopened.

Even better, completion of this course and one other super basic one on IBM's site opens you up to apply for a learner's license of z/OS (the dev&test environment that runs on Linux) itself, which can be had for $120 a year.

https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/

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> completion of this course and one other super basic one [...] opens you up to apply for a learner's license of z/OS

That's still a problem and IMO a short-sighted approach. They wouldn't lose anything by making the software freely available as they make money on selling the actual mainframe, support & consulting services, so why add these extra steps (that are still very easy to pass for anyone determined to obtain & use the software without a license)?

Typical bureaucratic ancient organization mindset, methinks. The looming crisis of not having any new mainframe-trained people and/or COBOL coders is probably what forced their hand into opening up even this far.

As to the extra steps, some further reading implies that the OS is tied to a hardware dongle (groan) and a boatload of papers and install media being physically sent to you.

amazing, in this day and age you would think IBM would have a free emulator for use in a VM or a Linux Container.

All they have to do is look at Motif/CDE. People were begging for Motif to be free for Linux in the 90s, now Motif is really "no more". Motif was finally released for Linux a few years ago but it is only used for nostalgia reasons.

There are more examples like this, but you have IBM and Companies begging for new young workers. But saying you need to pay to use ot abide by crazy restrictions. If IBM keeps this up, their Cash Cow will follow Motif off the cliff.

Completed the required badges and reached out to IBM, the program is /only/ available within the US at the moment.

They are apparently working to include other countries though I also heard from other channels that even the US is being looked at whether to continue this offering.

So if your in the US and interested, move on it quickly. These badges aren't difficult to obtain but you do need to use Coursera for the last one, the Mainframe Practitioner, so unless you can activate the free 7 day trial there is some cost associated with it.

I know I'm completely missing the point of whether this good for the industry or they still need to make changes etc. etc. (I know nothing about it).... thanks for the link - the introduction is going to make for a fun Friday evening challenge :D :D

Great! Mainframe is such a hard nut to crack, nobody wants to hire without decades of experience, no way to get experience without being hired.

other interesting Mainframe tools:

- http://www.hercules-390.org/ "The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/Architecture Emulator" ( 3.0 )

- https://hercules-390.github.io/html/ Hercules 4.0

- https://hub.docker.com/r/rattydave/docker-ubuntu-hercules-mv... ( docker image )

Why would I bother with this if I don't want to work at one of the legacy companies that still uses this? (besides the exploration aspect) It seems that the knowledge doesn't transfer all that well and applying it at smaller scales is not viable.

You wouldn't unless you had an insatiable curiosity in knowing how it works. However, even with that it sounds like you wouldn't be approved.

Approved for what, the course or the license ? If you mean the course I can confirm that I just started it and no "approval" was required other than the accepting the usual terms and conditions.

I remember doing that when I was in college, about 14 years ago. Unfortunately, I never did much with it since that instructor left about 3 weeks into the course, and everyone had to switch to other unrelated classes.

from the website:

> "How much does the ZD&T for Learners Edition cost?"

> "The ZD&T for Learners Edition is $120.00 USD per year for qualified applicants."

what is the definition of "qualified applicants" ?

Basically doing the 2 courses in the link. This gets you 3 badges that have to be linked into a word doc form (sigh) and emailed to their sales droids.

This being IBM I suppose we should be thankful they don't want a fax, but jeez.

Finally

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