bitmappertech-blog

[bitmappertech-blog]

OS/390 for all

got stuff bundled up: just acquire a OS/390 V2R10 ADCD, copy the contents of this into that folder, adjust the path in the hercules.cnf, run prep.sh, and `hercules -f hercules.cnf` make sure you have a terminal connected to the system before you run ipl a80 then `ipl a80` then when it complains do `00 u` and when it complains again do `00 i` and yet again when it complains do `r 01` then, connect with another terminal, login as p390 with password p390, and change the password you are good to go config and script are available here: http://0x0.st/zto3.tar

[bitmappertech-blog]

OS/390 on hercules, or why using software you shouldn’t be using, with no documentation, is hard

it was hard the most “enjoyable part” was finding which DASD files needed to be used and where they went, mounting the isos, extracting the CKD files, converting them to CCKD, and cleaning them up, manually, for 12 CDs this was the final result: ARCHMODE ESA/390 ALRF ENABLE CNSLPORT 3270 CONKPALV (3,1,10) CPUMODEL 9672 CPUSERIAL 050556 CPUVERID 00 ECPSVM NO LOADPARM 0A82DB.. LPARNAME BIRRCONS MAINSIZE 1024 MOUNTED_TAPE_REINIT DISALLOW NUMCPU 1 OSTAILOR quiet PANRATE 50 PGMPRDOS LICENSED SYSEPOCH 1900 TIMERINT 50 TZOFFSET +0000 YROFFSET 0 HERCPRIO 0 TODPRIO -20 DEVPRIO 8 CPUPRIO 15 DEFSYM DASD "/Users/bitmapper/os390" DEFSYM PRTR "/Users/bitmapper/os390" 0580    3420           # tape 0581    3420           # tape 0590    3420           # tape 0700    3270           # master console 0701    3270           # local TSO 1 0702    3270           # local TSO 2 0900    3270           # local TSO 3 0901    3270           # local TSO 4 0A80 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS39RA.A80 0A81 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS3RAA.A81 0A82 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS39M1.A82 0A83 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS39PA.A83 0A84 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS3PAA.A84 0A85 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS39DA.A85 0A86 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS3DAA.A86 0A87 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS39HA.A87 0A88 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS3DAB.A88 0A89 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS3PAB.A89 0A8A 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS3PAC.A8A 0A8B 3390 $(DASD)/OS390/OS3PAD.A8B 0E20.2 3088 CTCI /dev/tun1 1500 192.168.5.200 192.168.5.10 255.255.255.255 0010    3270    console the LOADPARM needs to be changed on first boot to set up a cold boot, so that JES2 can initialize. if anyone knows how to shut down OS/390 properly (I've been using quiesce) :v afterwards, the LOADPARM can be set back to what it is in the above text there’s a bit of config that needs to be done inside OS/390 to get networking working, but that’s highly system dependant and already documented. modify options to taste, and you are done!

[bitmappertech-blog]

refrigerator sized computers or something

i’ve been trapped inside z/OS and OS/390 for the last while. it’s been bizarre and confusing and frustrating and interesting.

every time I think I understand, I end up more confused please help

[bitmappertech-blog]

old computers, or something

I’ve been interested in older computers for a long time. It’s interesting seeing machines from a technological “Wild West.” There was so much variety in computer architecture at the time, with so many good ideas that were abandoned in favour of mainstream designs. Due to the more interesting machines being harder to find, there’s only 5 machines I want to get: A DEC Alpha machine of some kind A Symbolics Lisp Machine An Itanium 2 workstation An IBM z Series mainframe A VAXen - big or small, I don’t particularly care

Two of these are obviously a lot harder to get than the others, I think you can tell which ones.

I’ve already got an SGI Octane, which isn’t something I wanted as much as those, but it’s still amazing to have, and I make good use of it.

[bitmappertech-blog]

Common Lisp: and why I love using it

Common Lisp has quickly become my favourite programming language. I used to laugh at it and call it antiquated and obtuse, but after using it for 2 years I can’t imagine wanting to use anything else (except perhaps Erlang or Elixir).

Its macro system allows me to quickly write concise code that I wouldn’t even be able to write in another language. Homoiconic languages are amazing, and the flexibility Common Lisp provides is extremely powerful due to it’s homoiconicity.

The shortcomings of said flexibility is overcome by fantastic support for the functional programming paradigm. It’s the only language I've found so far that allows me to clearly express my thoughts as code.

It is absolutely a joy to use, and I highly suggest it to anyone looking to try a new language.

Just don’t let the parentheses bother you too much, okay?

[bitmappertech-blog]

what is this

I wanted somewhere to put all my ideas, rants, and experiences, to share them with other people (and possibly meet some people who can help me).

I'll probably just blog about parallel computing, Lisp, functional programming, systems programming, hardware design, and old computers (possibly new ones too).

I'm still just a 17 year old, so I'm bound to get some things wrong, so please forgive me if I do.

There will probably be a flurry of new posts after this, just for context.