Re: How to boot a kernel?

[Richard Troth <rtroth@bmc.com>]

I didn't see any replies to your question.
(But I have some filtering in place.  Sorry if I missed anything.)

> Sorry, but I'm trying to learn and am beginning to realize I really know
> nothing about these beasts.

Sounds like you have a physical S/390 since you mention the SE laptop.
There is a way for some S/390 systems to present files on CD
as if they were files on tape.   This is clearly true for
P/390, Multiprise, and IS class machines.   Dunno about yours.

What kind of S/390 do you have?
What OS is it running right now?

INCIDENTALLY,
there is no architectural reason why an S/390 could not boot
directly from CD-ROM.   One type of mainframe disk is "FBA"
and a CD is just that:  fixed block architecture.   The more common
disk for mainframes is CKD or ECKD which does not present
fixed blocks to the I/O subsystem.   CKD has its own strengths,
but I maintain that IBM has let us (customers) down by not
better supporting FBA,  especially w/r/t CD-ROM.

The big money reason for retaining CKD (or for downplaying FBA)
is that MVS (and its children, ie: z/OS) never learned to use FBA.
But z/VM, and Linux, and VSE  are all happy with either FBA or CKD
or a combination.

-- R;