About Linux/390The path to Linux/390 took many twists. An independent group of VM programmers were working on a GCC and Linux port to S/370, the architectural antecedent of the S/390. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, IBMers at Boeblingen, Germany were working on a 390-only port. While Linux can run as the native operating system of an S/390 mainframe, it also runs in a logical partition [LPAR] or under the VM operating system. Linux running under IBM's VM/ESA virtual machine operating system presents unique opportunities for synergy, since VM's virtualization of every aspect of the machine, from the processor instruction set to L3 caching and disk caching, obviates the need for certain kinds of performance enhancements that Linux kernel hackers would have to author independently for particular hardware platforms. Linux on top of VM can, to a large extent "just relax and go with the flow" in matters such as virtual memory paging and multiple processor support. Other Resources
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