A IBM public domain operating systems OS/360, DOS, DOS/VS, MVS, VM/CMS, and TSS/370 run under the imitator. Recently operating systems, like OS/390, z/OS, VSE, VM/ESA, and z/VM will run, however just can't legally become utilized except inside super limited circumstances for license reasons. Linux/390 runs well in Hercules, & very much development function is done on the imitator. Many Linux distributions include ports for S/390 & a few likewise include a separate zSeries port, the virtually all popular existence SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server. More distributions using mainframe ports include Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Debian Linux, and CentOS.

One of a prime utilizes for Hercules is as a inexpensive way of catching multiprocessor & 64-bit environments for development purposes to verify that code is personal & works by owning SMP and is 64-bit clean. There exists too a big community of todays & previous mainframe operators, also when people by owning there are no anterior personal experience, world health organization apply Hercules & the public domain IBM operating systems as a hobby & for learning purposes.

A screenshot beneath shows Hercules' emulatiin of the Devices Management Console (HMC) on an IBM S/390 mainframe. In rattling z-Series machines (successor to the 390 series) these are an IBM Thinkpad laptop computer going OS/2 & dedicated software system that makes it look such as an old-fashioned 9672 terminal... and so you already have a couple shells of virtualisation prior to introducing Hercules! PSW means "Program Status Word", called "Instruction Pointer" on another architectures. Tons counters come zero because a machine has non eventually been told in addition. A console is alive (i personally.e., believe a OS/2 laptop computer is heading its terminal software system.) Withwithin Unix nomenclature a mainframe is talking back in lone user console mode.

To the perfect is what you understand when an OS is booted, in that pack Debian GNU/Linux 390. A HMC command "IPL 0800" (Initial Program Machine load) was issued additionally from either a device encountered at location 0800, or so speaking. The Linux boot sequence fall out that looks supplementary-or even even-less when it does in Alpha, Intel or more platforms. Interaction on text is however vithe a virtualised HMC, in which a rule is that any commands prefixed by a dot "." come passed across to the mainframe session & anything else is interpreted as an HMC command. An option is to attach vithe the 3270 session or even even the TCP/IP connection all over ssh or X11/xterm good when for a very computer.

Hercules Linux/390

A screenshot on the left plan logging inside (using word within plain text due to the HMC pass-across arrangement. the user has shown that Linux/390 thinks these are going in the dual processor S/390 sustaining a serial total of Pi.