Last updated on:
Sunday, July 06, 2008

Software

• Linux/390 Distributions
• Linux/390 Patches
• Hercules - An S/390 Hardware Emulator

Information

• Large numbers of links
• Linux/390 HOWTOs
• IBM's Linux/390 pages
• Distribution Contents
• IBM VM and Linux Resources
• Linux man pages
• Notes & Observations
• Top 10 reasons to run Linux on VM
• Linux/390 at Princeton University
• i/370 Port, aka Bigfoot
• linuxvm.org Archives

Community

• Community Members
• Linux-390 Listserv
• Linux/390 Presentations
• Linux/390 Subscribers
• Linux/390 Survey Results

News

• Enterprise Linux Today
• Linux Journal
• Linux Today
• Linux World
• Kernel Traffic

Fun

• Ubersoft
• User Friendly

Credits

• Cast of characters

Archives of linuxvm.org

12/3/2001 - Mark Post came across another article about IBM's Linux Community Development System from July of 2001.
http://www.internetweek.com/reviews01/rev073001.htm

12/5/2001 - Neale Ferguson was the first to report the SuSE press release of Gerling Insurance AG going to Linux/390. Gerling is consolidating a number of Windows® NT servers onto a z900.
http://www.suse.com/us/press/press_releases/archive01/gerling.html

12/5/2001 - Neale Ferguson reported success getting Oracle 9i working on Linux/390. Unfortunately, his poor memory prevented him from detailing exactly how he did it. :( Wait a minute, doesn't Neale work for a company that sells their own database? :)
http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvtype?LINUX-VM.21372

12/5/2001 - Neale Ferguson reported IBM's announcement of withdrawal from marketing and support of VIF effective April 30, 2002. Kurt Acker of IBM responded by pointing to the URL for the z/VM 4.2 base publications, and recommending that VIF users look for the link to "System Administration Facility" for "VIF migrations and VIF like functionality."
http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/usalets&parms=H_901-307 US
http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/canalets&parms=H_A01-1760 Canada
http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/emealets&parms=H_ERIFZP010607 EMEA
http://www.vm.ibm.com/pubs/pdf/vm420bas.html

12/5/2001 - In response to a question about mail merge programs on Linux, David Boyes responded with a nice example of how some of the functions of troff could accomplish that.
http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvtype?LINUX-VM.21388

12/5/2001 - Since it looks like Red Hat won't be making any substantial changes in their Linux/390 platform, Mark Post updated the "Distribution Contents" page with the latest information. Both the Red Hat individual page, and the consolidated list were updated.
http://linuxvm.org/Info/packages.html
http://linuxvm.org/Info/redhat.html
http://linuxvm.org/Info/appendix.html

12/5/2001 - Samy Rengasamy contributed a number of articles for inclusion here on some of his experiences with Linux/390, or that he culled from the mailing list. He also asked that everyone else do the same to increase the information sharing on the mailing list. I will be creating a separate page with an idex to these various kinds of "tips" or "how-to's" to make them (hopefully) easier for people to find.
Oracle 9i and ODBC - http://linuxvm.org/Info/HOWTOs/orclodbc.html
DB2Connect to Serve DB2 Data through JSP from Tomcat - http://linuxvm.org/Info/HOWTOs/db2cjsp.html
Mail Merge on Linux-390 using troff - http://linuxvm.org/Info/HOWTOs/mailmrge.html
Porting HTML from Windows® to Linux - http://linuxvm.org/Info/HOWTOs/win2lin.html
VNC on Linux S/390 - http://linuxvm.org/Info/HOWTOs/vnc390.html

12/6/2001 - John Donghwa Kim of IBM posted a notice about the System Installation Suite that he is porting to Linux/390. He invited anyone who was interested in the SIS project to contact him off list. A short description of SIS from the project page reads: "System Installation Suite is a collection of open source software projects designed to work together to automate the installation and configuration of networked workstations. These software projects fit around a modular design framework designed to be cross-platform, operating system independant, and scalable from a single workstation to a thousand node collection of workstations."
http://sisuite.sourceforge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/systemimager
http://systemconfig.sourceforge.net

12/6/2001 - Scott Courtney reported a story about Tommy Hilfiger Corporation choosing Linux running on IBM x and p-series hardware for their new e-business architecture.
http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-12-06-008-20-PR-DP

12/6/2001 - Mark Post published the URL of an IBM press release about DreamBall Co. going to Linux/390 in Korea.
http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/news/pressreleases/2001/dreamball_pr_090401.html

12/7/2001 - In response to a question about Disaster Recovery for Linux/390, gmonteleone@sitec.fr posted this. His note was followed up by John Alvord cautioning that before backing up your Linux system you shut it down first. Otherwise the restored disk is likely to be inconsistent:

If you want to clone your system in an another LPAR and get the two
partitions online at the same time, this is what i do:

I've got two partition PROD and TEST
PROD system's is on a 3390-3 at 031E
TEST system's is on a 3390-3 at 031F

PROD parmfile's is dasd=031E,031F etc...
dasda is 031E
dasdb is 031F

- I do an OS/390 offlindr restore from backup of 031E to 031F

From Linux PROD:
- a mount of dasdb (031F) to /mnt/backup
- vi of /mnt/backup/boot/parmfile and set new value:
  dasd=031F instead of dasd=031E,031F
- silo for establish the new ipltext to /dev/dasdb
- vi of /mnt/backup/etc/rc.config to set new value like ipaddres,
  hostname...
- vi of /mnt/backup/etc/modules.conf to set new value like device
  address to lcs, ctc...

- IPL from Linux TEST at 031F.

12/7/2001 - After some persistent questioning, Joachim Schroeder and Jens Sandemann of SuSE made it clear that the GA version of their new Linux/390 distribution (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7 for S/390 and zSeries) was not going to be made available on their FTP server. The code was only going to be available to people who purchased a support contract from SuSE, or are a SuSE business partner. Only future beta versions will be available for download. There was some discussion about this, but it was eventually agreed that while this does not violate the GPL in any way, it was likely to inhibit people from installing SuSE in the future.
http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvtype?LINUX-VM.21461 http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvtype?LINUX-VM.21480

12/7/2001 - Neale Ferguson posted the URLs of a new IBM RedPiece on "zSeries HiperSockets." The second URL is to the PDF file itself.
http://publib-b.boulder.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/9445fa5b416f6e32852569ae006bb65f/ce975135...
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpapers/pdfs/redp0160.pdf

12/10/2001 - Kurt Acker of IBM posted a link to a Washington System Center Flash on "OSA-Express Maintenance in the Linux Environment." This deals with the errors people have been seeing when microcode maintenance is put on that then requires a port name be specified when loading the driver module.
http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/PubAllNum/Flash10119

12/11/2001 - Eric Lawler reported a problem with a real CTC connection between his Linux/390 LPAR, and an OS/390 one. When large amounts of data were being transferred, from Linux/390 to OS/390, the connection would stall, but not in the other direction. In addition, these errors were being seen on the OS/390 side:

EZZ4310I  ERROR: code=80100044 reported on device DEVB26. diagnostic code:
 03
EZZ4309I  Attempting to recover device DEVB26
IST1578I  SOFT INOP detected for IUTX0B26 by ISTTCCTE code = 102

12/12/2001 - A Dump/Restore mini-HOWTO based on Mark Post's mailing list posting of November 29th has been added to the HOWTO page on this site.
http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvtype?LINUX-VM.21292
http://linuxvm.org/Info/HOWTOs/dumprest.html

12/13/2001 - Mark Post reported the URL of a press release on IBM's z900 web site, announcing the release of Green Light Advantage's AdminUX 8.8 software for SuSE's and Turbolinux's Linux/390 distributions.
http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/solutions/s390da/applications/prgla2.html

12/13/2001 - David Boyes reported success with enabling broadcast and multicast functionality on a CLAW device using UTS Global's c7000.c Cisco driver. According to David, only three things are required:

• Enabling the "broadcast" keyword on the "claw" configuration line in the router.
• The IOS "ip directed-broadcast" IOS configuration command.
• The following one-line change (as corrected by Adam Thornton) to the c7000.c driver:

  The original line is:
  
  +       dev->flags = IFF_NOARP;
  
  The modified line is:
  +       dev->flags = IFF_BROADCAST | IFF_MULTICAST | IFF_NOARP;
  

12/14/2001 - Axel Wirbser of IBM reported some updates for Linux/390:

• kernel 2.4.7 recommended bug-fix for fdasd in s390 tools
• kernel 2.4.7 recommended OCO-modules lcs, qdio, qeth with bug-fixes - esp. HiperSockets support - each for 31-/64-bit, with/without on-demand-timer patch
• kernel 2.4 7 experimental order-2-allocation-relief patch, even tougher than the first one and no longer requiring special 64-bit OCOs.
• kernel 2.4.16 experimental (currency work) with matching on-demand-timer and order-2-allocation-relief patches, as well as matching lcs, qdio, qeth OCOs (only rudimentary tests by development)

12/14/2001 - Mark Post reported an InfoWorld article about security exposures needing to be plugged in SSH. The exposures are found in implementations of the SSH1 protocol, but not SSH2. According to CERT/CC (Computer Emergency Response Team/Coordination Center, "We are seeing a high amount of scanning for SSH daemons, and we are receiving reports of exploitation."
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/12/14/011214hnsecureshell.xml?1214fram

12/14/2001 - On a somewhat sad (for us) note, Mike MacIsaac announced that he was going to be leaving the IBM ITSO group to go into another area supporting Linux/390 at Poughkeepsie. Mike was responsible for bringing the three Linux/390 RedBooks to us, as well as the Open Source for OS/390 Unix System Services book, and its later updating. While everyone wishes him well, his absence from ITSO will be felt.
http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvtype?LINUX-VM.21606

12/17/2001 - Neale Ferguson advised us that the latest version of his cpint command is now 1.1.2.
http://linuxvm.org/penguinvm/programs/cpint-1.1.2.tar.gz

12/17/2001 - Neale Ferguson reported an article reviewing Red Hat's Professional Server 7.1 distribution. The article had a single passing reference to their Linux/390 distribution.
http://www.internetweek.com/enterprise/enterprise121701-1.htm

12/18/2001 - Mark Post reported that IBM is expanding their Linux Community Development System concept to their i-series (formerly AS/400) line.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20011217/tc/ibm_beckons_linux_fans_to_server_line_1.html

12/18/2001 - Neale Ferguson reported the URL of a press release announcing the General Availability of Red Hat's Linux/390 distribution. James Causey reported a copy on one of Red Hat's sites. Mark Post gave the URL of the FTP download site. He also noted that no .iso images were on the site.
http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-12-18-004-20-PR-HE-RH
http://eltoday.com/article.php3?ltsn=2001-12-18-001-14-PS
http://www.redhat.com/about/presscenter/2001/press_s390.html
http://www.europe.redhat.com/news/article/192.html
ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/7.2/en/os/s390/

12/18/2001 - Mark Post reported a "special offer" that IBM has: "For a limited time only, if you acquire a qualifying IBM zSeries or S/390® Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) and a z/VMfs#8482; Version 4 software license at the same time (single order), you can receive eligible on-site IBM Linux Implementation Services (approximate value $22,500) at no additional charge. These services include:

• Installation of Linux
• Configuration and set up of TCP/IP
• Installation and configuration of either the Apache or Samba Linux applications"

12/18/2001 - Mark Post called attention to some Linux/390 diagnostic tools and documentation that had been briefly mentioned in one of the IBM updates to their web site: two manuals on "Using the Dump Tools, Linux Kernel 2.4" for 31-bit and 64-bit Linux/390. There are four chapters in each book:

1. Dump tools
2. Dumping on tape
3. Dumping on DASD
4. Copying the dump to a filesystem

12/19/2001 - Steve Ware offered up this URL for "plan," a Motif-based calendar/day planner application.
http://www.bitrot.de/plan.html

12/19/2001 - In response to a request for a pre-compiled Linux/390 binary of VNC, Rob van der Heij confessed that he had one available.
ftp://ftp.iaehv.nl/pub/users/rvdheij/vnc/

12/19/2001 - Henry Schaffer posted a link to an article on Open Source software from an economic perspective. The author examines the strengths and weaknesses of both proprietary and Open Source development.
http://www.milkeninstitute.org/review/2001qtr4/pdf/32-41mr.pdf

12/19/2001 - Uwe Zumpe of IBM reported some updates for Linux/390:

• Newly formulated restrictions on "large MTU sizes may fail due to 'order-N allocation failed' problem."
• The "Recommended level 2.4.7" 2001-12-12 sections describing the 31-/64-bit OCO-modules have been updated to clarify on HiperSockets support being currently available in LPAR, only, and noting the prereq on future VM-service (PTFs) for HiperSockets support for Linux systems running as VM-guests.
• There is a new ***experimental*** DeveloperWorks page where you will find a tar-file containing experimental kernel 2.4.9 OCO-modules that are intended to fit the recent "Red Hat Linux 7.2 S/390" (kernel version 2.4.9-17) distribution - along with a PDF describing how to install these. Some of the steps were only tested rudimentarily, as we did not have much time: Therefore please consider the caveats on using experimental items...
  This is a one-time effort, ***definitely*** not intended to set a precedent, and implies no commitment that this will be maintained...

12/19/2001 - Jim Blandy reported that he had just "committed a bunch of bug fixes for GDB on S/390 Linux to the public sources." He requested testers to compile the source and report any bugs to him so that he can make GDB better.
http://sources.redhat.com/gdb

12/20/2001 - In response to a request for information on how to secure a Linux system, Jay Brenneman and Jon Doyle recommended the following online resources. Werner Puschitz recommended two books, "Securing Linux: Step-by-Step" from the SANS institute, and "Securing & Optimizing Linux: The Ultimate Solution."
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Security-HOWTO.html
http://www.suse.de/~marc
http://www.linuxsecurity.com
http://www.sansstore.org/
http://www.puschitz.com/Security.html

12/20/2001 - Mike MacIsaac of IBM announced that the "Linux for S/390 and zSeries: ISP/ASP Solutions" RedBook was now offically published.
http://publib-b.boulder.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/sg246299.html
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/pubs/pdfs/redbooks/sg246299.pdf

12/21/2001 - David Boyes posted the URL to an article describing several security exposures in Microsoft's Windows® XP. David's comment on the article was "Well, *duh*...."
http://tm0.com/IHT/sbct.cgi?s=155663576&i=435792&d=2143501

12/21/2001 - Dave Rivers proudly pointed out an article on IBM's web site announcing that Dignus Systems' compilers were IBM's "Member Solution of the Month" for January 2002. The article highlighted Software AG's use of Dignus Systems' compilers to compile their Tamino product on multiple S/390 and z900 operating systems.
http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/solutions/s390da/aom/aom.html
http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/solutions/s390da/

12/22/2001 - Robert Kusche pointed to an article that talks about Microsoft Corporation suing startup company lindows.com. Microsoft claims that "lindows" violates the trademark they have on the "Windows" name. The founder of the company, Michael Robertson, is quoted as saying "If they're alleging that people are going to be confusing Microsoft Corp. with Lindows.com, I think there's zero potential of that happening. If people are confused, just remember that we're not the convicted monopolist."
http://investor.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-8246647-0.html

12/26/2001 - Jim Sibley reported that the following worked for him when defining two OSA cards in one Linux/390 system using the 2.4 kernel with chandev support.

in /etc/modules.conf
     alias eth0 qeth
     alias eth1 qeth

in /etc/chandev.conf
     noauto
     qeth0,0x4e00,0x4e01,0x4e02,0,0
     qeth1,0x4f00,0x4f01,0x4f02,0,0

if portname required at your LIC level
     add_parms,0x10,0x4e00,0x4e02,portname:OSA1
     add_parms,0x10,0x4f00,0x4f02,portname:OSA2

12/27/2001 - Ron Greve posted the URL to a semi-humorous article describing a 12-step process (similar to AA, NA, etc.) to get Linux in use at your site.
http://www.cio.com/archive/010102/shop.html

12/27/2001 - Les Geer of IBM notified the list that the VM/CP and TCP/IP PTFs necessary to enable Hipersocket support on VM are now available for ordering The fix numbers are UM30225 for CP and UQ61461 for TCP/IP.
http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvtype?LINUX-VM.21884

12/28/2001 - In response to a question about how to correct some nearly unreadable fonts when using an X client on Linux/390, Mark Post posted this pointer to the XFree86 Font De-uglification HOWTO.
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/FDU/

12/28/2001 - In response to a question about S/390 processor internals, David Boyes recommended IBM's online Journal of Research and development. In particular he recommended "Vol. 43, Nos. 5/6, 1999 are particularly interesting for owners of 9672's -- lots of grungy deep detail on the G5/G6 architecture. Lots of good stuff wrt to IEEE FP implementation and some interesting details on the MCM wafer manufacturing process."
http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/

12/29/2001 - Rob van der Heij also fessed up to having created a copy of the Red Hat installation ram disk with the IBM OCO modules already merged in. The version he has is for the installation under VM not the tape/LPAR one. The file size is about 3MB.
ftp://ftp.iae.nl/pub/users/rvdheij/rh-2.4.9/initrd_oco.img