Learn
- Wikipedia’s History of IBM Mainframe Operating Systems.
- Also on MVS, the successor to OS/360.
- Michael Niehaus. Turn Your Laptop into a Portable Mainframe. oofhours, 9/2019.
- Mike Dank. Emulating a z/OS Mainframe with Hercules. famicoman, 6/2018.
- Discusses how to setup Hercules to run z/OS on a Linux machine.
- Carla Schroder. How To Run Your Own Mainframe Linux. Linux.com, 2/2013.
- Worthwhile read even if it is dated.
- Install IBM z/OS Mainframe Under GNS3. ModernHackers, 10/2019.
- Keith Kim. [Exploring Mainframe] IBM System/370, MVS on Hercules Emulator. 2/2020.
- IBM’s Z Courses.
- Cover a number of topics including a 30 minute introduction to z/OS.
- IBM Redbooks.
- Not exclusively about mainframes but cover in-depth a number of mainframe topics.
Emulators
- Hercules
- Simulates the IBM Mainframe architecture but does not include a mainframe OS.
- The latest release appears to be 3.07 from 3/2010.
- There is another site which has a version 3.13 from 9/2017. See also Hercules Hyperion below.
- IBM does not seem to mind Hercules presence but an attempt to commercialize Hercules was promptly shut down by IBM.
- Jay Moseley has a fairly extensive site on Hercules.
- Hercules Studio is a separate project that provides a front-end GUI for Hercules on Linux/Mac. Still being maintained/updated (04/2019).
- Software Development Laboratories offers HercGUI a front-end for Hercules on Windows. Available for free download, to purchase is $35.
- Another front end is JASON, it is free and open source.
- Hercules 4.x Hyperion (SDL)
- SoftDevLabs’ version of Hercules that utilizes SDL and continues to be actively developed.
- BSP GmbH’s Tur(n)key 3 System
- Bundles Hercules with MVS.
- There is a cookbook available with instructions on installation/usage.
- Juergen Winkelmann’s Tur(n)key 4 System
- Appears to be built upon BSP’s v3 system above. The most recent release appears to be from 9/2016.
- x3270 Terminal Emulator
- Free/open source cross-platform terminal emulator that allows one to connect to mainframe systems (including Hercules).
- PuTTY SSH and Telnet Emulator
- Supports 3270 emulation, Windows only, free/open source.
Other
- lzlabs – A company that migrates mainframe software off of physical mainframes.
- Jan Jaeger, co-inventor of Hercules is Chief Software Architect.