Random thoughts, tips & tricks about Slackware-Linux, Lego and Star Wars

Archive for the 'Slack/390' Category

November 21st, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

…Continuing from Part 9
Configuring our installation
After installing all the selected packages, the setup program takes us to the configuration item of the menu.
1) Kernel parameters
First we can add any necessary boot parameters. Remember that these are roughly equivalent to the parameters you normally put in your /etc/lilo.conf file:

What we define here is:
- where to find [...]

November 21st, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

…Continuing from Part 8
Selecting packages to install
We now arrived at the task of deciding exactly which packages we want to install.
1) Package series selection
Slackware (and Slack/390) organizes its packages in 'series'. This comes from the old days, when we installed Slackware from floppy disks.
We are shown a menu with all series that we downloaded, each [...]

November 21st, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

…Continuing from Part 7
Selecting the source
Now we need to inform the setup program where it can find the packages to install. The menu gives us the following options:

As explained before, we'll use the option to install from NFS, so select option 2 and the next question is asked:
1) Confirming our local network configuration

The IP address [...]

November 21st, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

…Continuing from Part 6
Starting setup
After formatting and partitioning our storage, we're ready to enter Slack/390's setup program.
In your telnet session simply enter:
# setup
and the following screen will appear:

Again, experienced Slackware users will recognize this screen from previous installations.
Note
The arrow keys did not work for me via telnet, but you can use the '+', '-' and [...]

November 21st, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

…Continuing from Part 5
Preparing our DASDs
Before we can install Slack/390 on our local storage, we need to format and partition our devices, just like on a normal desktop.
Remember we created two DASDs and that in GNU/Linux they are called /dev/dasda and /dev/dasdb
The partitions on /dev/dasda will be named /dev/dasda1, /dev/dasda2, etc.
We log in as root [...]

November 20th, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , ,

…Continuing from Part 4
Getting ready for our first IPL
Yes, we're really almost there
1) Checking the virtual network adapter
There is still one small problem.
Hercules emulates a network adapter, but of course it only exists virtually. In the hercules.cnf file we defined that is uses /dev/net/tun
This is a virtual network tunnel used in many emulators [...]

November 20th, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

…Continuing from Part 3
Defining kernel boot-parameters
OK, so Hercules is configured the way we need.
But to be able to boot the Slack/390 kernel, we need to set some parameters.
It is more or less like setting boot-time parameters in your lilo.conf file, only a bit different
The standard parmfile.txt came with only one (but very important) [...]

November 20th, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

…Continuing from Part 2
Configuring Hercules
So now we have Hercules installed and working and downloaded everything we need to install Slack/390 on it.
But first we need to configure our mainframe (tell the emulator which devices it needs to emulate, where they are, etc.).
Hercules uses a configuration file named hercules.cnf and looks for it in the directory [...]

November 20th, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

As promised, here are the first steps to get Slack/390 running on your Hercules emulator!
Preparation
0) Get Hercules installed & running
See my previous post if you don't have Hercules yet.
Note
I am a GNU/Linux user, but I know Hercules works under Windows and Mac OS X as well.
If you use one of them, some steps on this [...]

November 20th, 2008 by Niels Horn in , , , |

Recently I renewed my interest in the IBM mainframe computers.
From a colleague I learned about a program called Hercules that emulates a complete IBM mainframe system, from the early S/360 to the newer z/Architecture machines.
I already knew that Linux runs on these machines, so I started imagining running Slack/390 (the official S/390 port of Slackware) [...]