> -----Original Message----- > From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Rich Smrcina > Sent: 01 August 2009 14:46 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Hercules; more information please. > > Howard Rifkind wrote: > > > > Greetings all, > > I've just read through the posts on Hercules. > > I've heard about it but don't know much about this software. > > Does it run on a PC in Windows, Linux.what? > > Is Hercules a shell for z/VM and/or z/OS and if so where does one get > > legal copies of both? > > Being that I'm still on the beach I'd like to know where I can find > > out more about Hercules and install it on my home PC. > > Being out since the end of March . thanks to lay offs at the bank I > > worked for isn't much fun and a mind is terrible thing to loose. > > If I had something at home to fool around with, that would be great > > and perhaps keep some of my skill warm. > > > > Thanks > > > > > Hercules provides S/370, S/390 and System z architecture emulation on > the x86 architecture (Windows or Linux).
It's not limited to X86 architecture. Whilst there are some X86 specific optimizations in it, and it does depend on some "GNUisms" in GCC I have built and run it on a Sparc U60. Others have built it for PowerPC based MAC's and I gather some one even got it to run under Linux on an ARM based iPAQ. However if you want multiple CPU support you really need a 64bit system underneath. > It's legality typically raises > some questions, particularly when people want to run current levels of > System z software on it. It shouldn't as in general it is not legal to run current versions zOS or zVM on Hercules. All questions of legality of current OSs need to be discussed with you IBM representative. > There are significantly older levels of > mainframe software that the Hercules maintainers claim are unencumbered > by such things. > As far as I know IBM has never tried to claim otherwise, and one or two users of Hercules actually have copies of MVS3.8J that were supplied to them by IBM. However most of this is really only of "Historical Interest". Whilst the OS's are freely available much of the supporting software such as modern compilers, editors and support software (e.g. ISPF, DB2) was licensed and so are not available. > You can run Linux on System z on Hercules, this is equivalent to running > Linux in an LPAR. > > -- > Rich Smrcina > Phone: 414-491-6001 > http://www.linkedin.com/in/richsmrcina Dave G4UGM
