Introduction
Over the last few years I've been more and more interested in the workings of the IBM Mainframe. I've set up TK4- numerous times using Hercules but never really got further than that.
Just recently I decided it was time to have a crack as the sysgen process, inspired by Mainframes & More with Matthew and now more recently setting up TK5 with my own local virtual1403 printer inspired by moshix and again Matthew.
So without further ado let's begin the journey . . .
Configure the base Linux Server
I have a small proxmox server running on an Intel i3 processor, so this is where I am going to run my Virtual Linux Server. Looking back on this an i3 is not a good choice, but it's what I had lying about. It caused me some issues later on.
For this build I am using the following
Debian Linux 13.0
I'm not going to talk about how to set this up. For the most part you'll want to run a standard setup. For ease of use I installed the desktop environment as well.
Now the important part:
Configure server up with a fixed IP address and make sure you put it into your /etc/hosts file along with the server name.
If you don't do this you are going to get into a world of hurt when setting up the virtual1403.
Install packages
There are a number of additional packages that you may need. These are all the packages that you will need for a complete build of all of the software if you need to. Let's install them all just in case.
As root : apt install <packageName>
General Packages
sudo Also add your users to the sudo group in /etc/group as well
git
curl
zip
unzip
unix2dos
x3270
c3270
If you need to build Hyperion ( Hercules )
cmake
gcc
regina-rexx
libbz2-dev
zlib1g-dev
Required to run virtual1403
golang
postfix Select "all" . . . NOT local only
bsd-mailx
Installing TK5 Update 4
TK5+ is available from Rob Prins website.
During the Linux install I created a user called bigblue, so I'll use that user to run all the following commands
Lets setup a source directory to hold all the files
mkdir -p ~/src
Lets get TK5 and the User manual
I recommend printing out the User manual.
cd ~/src/
curl -O https://www.prince-webdesign.nl/images/downloads/mvs-tk5.zip
curl -O https://www.prince-webdesign.nl/images/downloads/TK5-Introduction-and-User-Manual.pdf
Lets grab the optional source (although we won't use it here).
curl -O https://www.prince-webdesign.nl/images/downloads/srccbt_catlg.txt
curl -O https://www.prince-webdesign.nl/images/downloads/srccbt.zip
Let set it up ready for use
cd ~
unzip ~/src/mvs-tk5.zip
cd ~/mvs-tk5
chmod -R +x *
cd ~/mvs-tk5/unattended
./set_console_mode
Now we are ready to go so let's start it.
cd ~/mvs-tk5
./mvs
At this point the system should start normally and eventually you'll get this.
If for some reason it doesn't start and complains about missing instructions then you will need to build your own Hyperion binaries from scratch. This is why my i3 NUC was not the best choice.
If you haven't printed out the User manual please do so, it has instructions on how to stop you mainframe nicely.
Connecting with a TN3270 terminal
Although we have the system console we started with ./mvs it's not for user use. So you can start a TN3270 emulator to connect in.
You should have installed x3270 in the previous steps which you can access from the linux desktop.
Or if like me you prefer something remote I bought a copy of Vista TN3270 from Tom Brennan Software or you can use one of the many available 3270 emulators out there on the Internet.
One little point to remember, on your keyboard Enter may not always be the correct Enter key. Try hitting the one on your number pad if the normal one does not work.
x3270
Vista TN3270
