Table of Contents
Hercules Overview
The Version 4 Documentation was diligently maintained by Peter Glanzmann who generously dedicated countless hours to the ongoing upkeep of the documents. Although they haven't been updated in quite some time, their contents are still relevant today.
To enable crowdsourcing of content, Peters work has been “ported” into this Wiki and some document elements that were helpful but difficult to maintain (Cross-References, indexes, tables of content) are no longer required.
The Version 4 documents are referenced in this article as a baseline for the documentation effort represented by this wiki. Several enhancements have been made to the wiki to facilitate easier maintenance of the documentation such as:
- Administrative Notations
- Extended Backus-Naur Form
- Terminal Display Simulations
- Article Threading
- and more …
WIKI Versions
Wiki Versions of the above documents are under construction in these subsections:
Version 4.00 Documentation
General Information
The Hercules “General Information” manual provides you an overview of the ideas and concepts of the Hercules Emulator as well as a documentation of the emulator’s functionality. It explains what Hercules does and does not do. It helps you decide if the software fits your needs fulfills your requirements.
Installation
The Hercules “Installation Guide” shows you how to install Hercules and all related optional and required software components under the Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple MacIntosh OS X operating systems.
After going through the installation guide you will have a working emulator environment ready to IPL a S370, S/390 or z/Architecture mainframe operating system.
User Reference
User Reference Guide Reference Summary
The Hercules “User Reference” leads you through all aspects of the emulator’s operation. It provides instruction in the operation of the Hercules Emulator with and without the Hercules GUIs. The usage details for the utilities are covered in the “Hercules Utilities” guide.
After reading this manual you should be able to work with Hercules, to create a configuration file and to use Hercules commands through the console.
Operations and Utilities
Operations and Utilities Guide
The Hercules “Operations and Utilities Guide” describes the operation of Hercules as well as additional utilities that are delivered together with the emulator. Selected utilities from third-party suppliers are also covered in this manual.
After reading this manual you should have the knowledge to operate Hercules and use the right utility for a certain housekeeping task within the Hercules environment. You should also be able to create virtual devices and understand backup / restore procedures.
Messages and Codes
The Hercules “Messages and Codes” document provides guidance for many of the messages emitted by the various applications and utilities contained in the Hercules distribution.