Table of Contents

Distributions

Robert O'Hara's SixPack

This is the latest version of the VM/370R6 Public Domain system. It has a more up-to-date GCC with a choice of run-time libraries and extra Editor modifications to allow editing multiple files. Bob says of V1.2:

there are no changes to the binaries from the last release candidate, so if you are running on that no need to download this. What is different is that I tried to make the distribution more “Unix-friendly”. To that end all of the filenames are in lowercase, and the path names in the configuration file all have forward slashes rather than backward slashes. I have also included a Unix shell script to match the Windows batch file (thanks to Blake Mayor).

Paul Gorinskey's 5-Pack System

It has all Andy's fixes plus many enhancements that make it an almost useable system.

Andy Norrie's 4-Pack system

This system is probably the most consistent system available. Andy put a lot of effort into re-working and cross checking the patches but it lacks many of the enhancements of Paul's system.

Gerard Wassink

Gerard has built a Raspberry Pi version and his instructions are Excellent! You can find his write-up and many other useful items on his web site.

Hercules from Source on RPi

Not only does he have excellent reference information for VM/370, he also explores MVS3.8J, and the MTS (Michigan Terminal System).

Bob Abele's Original 3-Pack System

This is Bob Abele's original distribution. Unlike the systems above which are distributed as “ready to IPL” DASD, this system is distributed as AWS takes that need to be restored to 3330 packs. A couple of extra things to note:

  1. Due an incompatibility between Hercules (and P/370 & P/390 systems) and DDR if you follow Bobs' original instructions Hercules will loop at the end of each restore. Simply re-wind and re-ipl the DDR tape or add the “(leave” option to the DDR “input” statement cards.
  2. Recent release releases of Hercules default to ESA architecture. An “ARCHMODE S/370” or “ARCHLEVEL S/370” needs to be added as VM/370 does not understand ESA machines.

These files are required to get a 3330-based system up and running:

Optional (but helpful) additional media: