> 1) Anyone doing this? Does it work OK? Any issues? Which VM release? We have tried it for testing purposes -- the "gee, will this work?" kind of testing -- from VM/370 r6 to z/VM 4.3. All versions of VM/370, VM/SP, VM/XA, VM/ESA, and z/VM will IPL and and seem to run fine within the limits of the "not heavily stressed, gee will this work?" constraint.
> 2) How did you license the VM release? Issues with that? Here's the rub. You can't. IBM won't license code for Hercules, you cannot use PID or other licenses on Hercules, and other than playtime uses like above, you can't legitimately do anything with Hercules and licensed code. Even the playtime use is a grey area, and closer to black than white. The only sub-100 MIPS platforms which you can legitimately get a license on which to run real work is the FlexES derived systems. At a goodly sum a pop. There has been discussion of a hobbyist license for various IBM operating systems, but there is nothing official. This would be a very desirable thing -- it made DEC a ton of money for VMS and RT-11, and it would be a great way to boost interest in the platform. -- db
