Getting Ready

Hercules 390

You'll need to install Hercules before you begin this adventure. There are multiple mirrors, each with different versions of Hercules. The version under active development is available from:

No license fees are required to use Hercules 390; see the Hercules 390 site(s) for license details and requirements.

Configuration Files and DOS/360 Startup and JCL Files

These have been packaged into a single zip file that can be extracted into the directory that will be the home for your DOS/360 system; download it from this site:

Extract this to the directory of your choice. I recommend creation of a directory DOS360 and extraction of these files to that directory.

The following structure is created:

  • conf - contains the single Hercules configuration file dos360.cnf

  • dasd - empty directory; will contain emulated 2311 and 2314 disk volumes

  • jcl - contains IPL control statements and installation job streams and the CVT11RES utility

  • prt - empty directory; will contain printouts from the installation and verification stages, and demos.

  • sample-prt - contains printouts from a reference installation of DOS/360 on Hercules

  • tape - empty directory; will contain distribution materials and scratch tapes

You can compare your result printouts in the prt directory to those in the sample-prt directory to investigate issues or satisfy yourself that the installation is proceeding correctly.

There are no .BAT files/shell scripts, and pretty much no need for them. A set of commands is needed to make the disks. You can type the commands if you wish or copy and paste the commands from this web site to a suitable command prompt or terminal window.

There are, however, a number of Hercules scripts (rc files) in the rc subdirectory. These scripts eliminate much of the typing needed to place emulated card decks in the emulated card reader, and to make sure emulated printouts end up in the correct host system file.

Tailor Files For Your Host System

The contents of DOS360.ZIP were created on a Windows system, so you'll find CRLF rather than NL line endings. Hercules seems pretty tolerant of CRLF or NL, so the JCL files should not require any processing prior to following these instructions. But if you're editing or reviewing the files, line-end conversion will be helpful.

The supplied Hercules configuration file dos360.cnf includes a variable ${line-end-type} defined as "CRLF" in the .ZIP file. Device statements in the configuration file and all Hercules scripts reference this variable to specify the line endings needed on created ASCII files. If you're host platform uses NL instead of CRLF, edit dos360.cnf to change this variable from "CRLF" to "" to create NL line endings. You may also want to run all .txt, .rc, .jcl, and .log files through a line-ending converter.

Hercules seems pretty tolerant of CRLF or NL, so the JCL files should not require any processing prior to following these instructions. Hercules is also slash agnostic, accepts forward slash as the directory/filename separator, and translating as needed to meet host system needs. All scripts and configuration files use forward slashes.

DOS/360 and POWER II Distribution Materials

If you have not already downloaded them, refer to DOS/360 Distribution Tapes and POWER II Distribution Tape to download them.

If you have already downloaded them, move them to the tape directory created above.

The CVT11RES Utility

Step MIGRATE02.JCL runs CVT11RES, a System/360 assembly language program, to create an IPL'able 2314 DOS system residence volume from the first two 2311 distribution volumes.

This utility replaces and was inspired by CONV2314, a utility found in two other DOS/360 installation primers, both posted to the retired Yahoo group H390-DOSVS. The first primer, DIY-DOS360, is posted by user korperlich and includes documentation signed by Ben Huntsman in the file how-to-txt; the file is in jcl/conv2314.jcl in DIY-DOS360. The second primer, DOS360-2314.zip posted by WJCKJC822, includes the assembly source in the installation instruction file readme.txt.

The CONV2314 utility included in the two distributions are (nearly?) identical and include no copyright or authorship information.

Continue with the DISTRIB Stage.