Table of Contents

VM/370 - Environment Setup

This is a case study in setting up multiple VM/370 environments

The preferred system is the “SixPack” 1.3 Beta 3 Release. It has:

Please refer to the information on G4UGM's Vintage Computer Pages for detailed information about the various VM/370 Pack offerings.

Also see New Users of Hercules Wanting a VM/CMS Environment by Greg Hartwig

Initial Setup

  1. Download the VM/370 SixPack 1.3 Beta 3
  2. Install or Build Hercules 4.0 (a.k.a. Hyperion)

Plan your working environment

This folder structure will encapsulate the isolated initial instance of the unloaded SixPack environment. 

E:\EMULATION\VM370.6PACK.1.3.ORIG
├───batch
├───disks
│   └───shadows
├───io
└───WC3270
    └───html

Next to the above structure - set up a working structure that defines a workspace in which new code can be developed and tested. 

E:\EMULATION\OPERATIONS.WORKSPACE
├───Development
├───Documentation
├───Distributions
├───Reference
├───Tapes
├───Tapes.Export
├───VM.Tools
└───_Sys.Utilities

Along with the distribution comes a “startup” batch file called sixpack.cmd. Because we will want to make modifications to, but retain original copies of the configuration files - we need to instantiate a slightly improved working environment.

The “out of the box” setup looks like this:

General User
E:\EMULATION\VM370.6PACK.1.3.ORIG │ diag58v310.aws │ dmstyp.fix.txt │ gcc.update.txt │ hercules.rc │ log.txt │ readme-1_2.txt │ readme-1_3.txt │ readme.1st │ readme2 │ rscs-fix.txt │ sixpack.cmd │ sixpack.conf │ sixpack.sh │ To_Do.txt │ ├───batch │ autologgcc.rc │ autologmaint.rc │ autorun.rc │ Batch.txt │ dummy │ dumpmini.bat │ dumpmini.rc │ dumpsrc.exec │ erasemini.bat │ erasemini.rc │ memtest.bat │ memtest.exec │ memtest.txt │ null.exec │ null.rc │ null.zip │ putcms.bat │ putcmsb.exec │ restmini.bat │ restmini.rc │ runcms.bat │ startcms.bat │ System380.txt │ termvm.rc │ VM380.cmd │ ├───disks │ │ mcat01.3350.cckd │ │ sysres.3350.cckd │ │ vm3350-1.141.cckd │ │ vm3350-2.241.cckd │ │ vm3350-3.34f.cckd │ │ vm3350-4.440.cckd │ │ vm3350-5.540.cckd │ │ vm3350-6.6f0.cckd │ │ │ └───shadows │ vm3350-11 │ vm3350-21 │ vm3350-31 │ vm3350-41 │ vm3350-51 │ vm3350-61 │ ├───io │ card.txt │ print1.prog1.listing │ └───WC3270 │ 3270.wc3270km │ catf.exe │ gcccms-3_2_3-8_5-exe.vmarc │ LICENSE.txt │ Model2.wc3270 │ Model4.wc3270 │ Model5.wc3270 │ NO-INSTALL.txt │ README-zip.txt │ sysprog.memo.txt │ wc3270.exe │ wc3270wiz.exe │ wpr3287.exe │ ws3270.exe │ x3270if.exe │ └───html Bugs.html Build.html FAQ.html Intro.html Keymap.html Lineage.html README.html ReleaseNotes.html Resources.html SSL.html wc3270-man.html wc3270-script.html Wishlist.html wpr3287.html ws3270-man.html x3270if.html

Before doing anything else, read the following documents:

Read "What Mother Never Told You About VM Maintenance" by Melinda Varian is THE reference document, crucial to understanding why things work the way they do.

You may the proceed to Initial Startup