Welcome to VM/370 "SixPack" version 1.0!

This version of VM/370 rolls up all of the modifications posted on the H390-VM and Hercules-os380 Yahoo groups since the "5-pack" system was released in 2006.

The base operating system is IBM's VM/370 Release 6 operating system, the last unlicensed version of VM/370.  It is designed to run on the Hercules Emulator.

We recommend you login as CMSUSER (password of CMSUSER) for most general work.  This user's minidisks reside on their own volume (the 6th pack), making backup of your own work much easier.

New features of the "SixPack" include:

   o   An up-to-date, accurate, and fairly complete help system.

   o   The Gnu C Compiler, with both a "traditional" runtime library
       (PDPCLIB) and a "native CMS" runtime library (GCCLIB).
       Type HELP GCC for information on compiling C programs.

   o   Extended parameter list support, meaning it is possible to pass mixed-
       case parameters to EXECs and C programs.

   o   Current line highlighting and multifile editing in EDIT.

   o   Other programs such as DIFF, FLIST, RESLIB, SCAN, VMARC are all
       available on the CMS Y disk.

This version of VM/370 is brought to you by Robert O'Hara, Paul Edwards, and Dave Wade.  It is based on earlier versions of VM/370 for Hercules developed by Andy Norrie and Paul Gorlinsky.


Installation:
-------------

This zip file is set up to run on Windows, mainly because that is what I run.  Hercules runs on other platforms (Linux, Mac OS), so it should be a straightforward matter to adjust the configuration files to get it up and running elsewhere.

1.  Unzip "SixPack.zip" into a suitable directory.  Make sure you choose the option to preserve relative file names.  In the "SixPack" directory (or whatever you call it) there should be three subdirectories:  3270, Disks, and IO.

2.  Install the current version of Hercules from http://hercules-390.org.  If you want to make use of the limited 31-bit addressing capabilities of this release, install Hercules/380 from http://mvs380.sourceforge.net.

3.  Ensure the directory containing "hercules.exe" is in your path.


Running the SixPack:
--------------------

Run "sixpack.cmd" and Hercules should launch, followed in a few seconds by a 3270 terminal emulator.

There are several userids defined:

CMSUSER (password of CMSUSER):  This userid is best for general work on the system.  It has several minidisks defined, all residing on a dedicated disk pack.  You can backup any work you store on these disks by simply making a copy of the disk pack's shadow file.

MAINT (password of CPCMS):  This is the system programmer's userid.  Logon here if you want to perform system programming tasks.  For example, you could edit the SIXPACK DIRECT A1 file to change the name of CMSUSER to your name, save the file, then issue the DIRECT SIXPACK command to update the sytem directory.

GCCCMS (password of GCCCMS):  Here you will find the source for the GCC compiler, plus useful EXECs set up to help you do bulk compilations of C programs.


Type HELP CMSCMDS for an overview of the available commands.

The included wc3270 emulator is launched from the "sixpack.cmd" file.  You can modify this command file to launch your preferred 3270 emulator.


Support:
--------

There is a lively group at tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hercules-os380.  Please join and contribute!


---

Robert O'Hara
Redmond Washington, July 7, 2009.

