Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
On Thu, 27 Mar 2025 at 11:03, Berry van Sleeuwen via groups.io <berry.vansleeuwen@...> wrote: You might want to look at the boo2pdf program by Kevin Bowling at . Well that was exciting for a few moments. But it's really just a front end that invokes the IBM machine code (SOs/DLLs) that actually implements the .BOO (BookManager) file processing. If *that* was in Java then it could be trivially decompiled and understood. But to my knowledge IBM has never released code or even documentation for any part of this format. Tony H.
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Re: IBM Documentation Hidden At IBM
Just to test, I have downloaded them all. But I only have 1214 files, > so I think there about 540 missing. Hmm, I was expecting under 2000, and inadvertently truncated the list. Untruncated version follows. I haven't tried to de-dupe the http vs https here, though I did filter out some other dupes. De
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Re: IBM Documentation Hidden At IBM
Just to test, I have downloaded them all. But I only have 1214 files, so I think there about 540 missing.
Interestingly, there are about 196 duplicates in this list. It looks like archive.org thinks https is a different link and therefore a different file. So after IBM switched to https a number of links have been listed again.
Regards, Berry.
Op 27-03-2025 om 20:30 schreef Dennis Boone via groups.io:
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Re: IBM Documentation Hidden At IBM
Here's a question, how about a link to IBM itself? I expect that wouldn't cause any problems either. However, I don't know if all publications are still available at IBM. I guess they are for sure available at archive.org.
Just for a quick test I listed the content at the wayback machine (copy/paste of the records). The page shows the original url-name but internally it links to a location in archive.org. Unfortunately that includes a random number in the url so I can't just prefix the url with the archive.org because the folder at archive.org is unique for each file. I did store the pages but I have to see ho to extract the archive.org url from there. (BTW, it's 1754 files.)
And for the confusing name, do you mean the filename? Actually the confusing name, either at IBM or archive.org is just the actual filename given by IBM. Granted, I have renamed all my local documentation to include the publication number and the name of the manual (something like GC24-5838-01 VMESA V2R4 Service Guide.pdf) so I can easily search my directory for a manual.
Regards, Berry.
Op 27-03-2025 om 19:36 schreef Fish
Fish via groups.io:
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Fish wrote:
Mark A. Stevens wrote:
This is a copy from Wayback of IBM PDFs, with their confusing
filenames.
Maybe someone could write a program that could download each one, extract
the manual name and number, and compile a list manual names and numbers
with a link pointing to the URL of that manual?
And by link, I want to be clear that I'm referring a link to the ARCHIVE.ORG url, *not* a link to your own downloaded copy on your own or someone else's web site! I'm sure IBM would scream Copyright violation if someone did that! But as long as the link was the *archive.org* url, I can't see how they could object to that. After all, they're all freely available and publicly accessible from there. We'd just be publishing sensibly NAMED urls for each of them, and not their confusing names. That's legal, yes?
I'm too busy to do it myself right now, but it sounds like a
fun/interesting project for someone, and I'm sure the community would be
eternally grateful to that person!
Just a thought. :)
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Re: IBM Documentation Hidden At IBM
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Re: IBM Documentation Hidden At IBM
Fish wrote: Mark A. Stevens wrote:
This is a copy from Wayback of IBM PDFs, with their confusing
filenames.
Maybe someone could write a program that could download each one, extract
the manual name and number, and compile a list manual names and numbers
with a link pointing to the URL of that manual? And by link, I want to be clear that I'm referring a link to the ARCHIVE.ORG url, *not* a link to your own downloaded copy on your own or someone else's web site! I'm sure IBM would scream Copyright violation if someone did that! But as long as the link was the *archive.org* url, I can't see how they could object to that. After all, they're all freely available and publicly accessible from there. We'd just be publishing sensibly NAMED urls for each of them, and not their confusing names. That's legal, yes? I'm too busy to do it myself right now, but it sounds like a
fun/interesting project for someone, and I'm sure the community would be
eternally grateful to that person!
Just a thought. :) -- "Fish" (David B. Trout) Software Development Laboratories mail: fish@...
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Re: IBM Documentation Hidden At IBM
Mark A. Stevens wrote: This is a copy from Wayback of IBM PDFs, with their confusing
filenames.
Maybe someone could write a program that could download each one, extract the manual name and number, and compile a list manual names and numbers with a link pointing to the URL of that manual? I'm too busy to do it myself right now, but it sounds like a fun/interesting project for someone, and I'm sure the community would be eternally grateful to that person! Just a thought. :) -- "Fish" (David B. Trout) Software Development Laboratories mail: fish@...
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Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
You might want to look at the boo2pdf program by Kevin Bowling at
.
I tried to get it working in my Linux machine but for now it
failed. Probably because I have a 64-bit system, it looks like
boo2pdf requires a 32 bit environment. I do plan to install an
older system to try it again.
Regards, Berry.
Op 27-03-2025 om 04:48 schreef Zachary
Kline via groups.io:
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As a somewhat frustrated
follow-up, I've discovered that my screen reader does not handle
the IBM Softcopy utility at all, at least not without use of
OCR, which is the very problem I was trying to avoid. :) So I'm
either stuck using books in PDF or figuring out how to convert
BOO files to another format, which appears to be non-trivial.
Thanks for the tip concernning
versions of ZVM. The core concepts appear to be similar even if
the details differ. I will continue the journey despite setbacks
:)
Best,
Zack.
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025, at 4:24 PM, Zachary Kline via groups.io
wrote:
Hi?René and all,
Thanks for the quick and helpful
responses. I am, as it happens, without sight of any kind,
hence why I prefer documents in original electronic format
whenever possible to spare me from having to figure out what
the sometimes badly mangled OCR results are saying.
I've so far found the provided
redbook invaluable. I'm at the point of running MVS/ESA under
VM using pre-provided directory entries, which is a decent
step :)
I particularly appreciate the
block-oriented nature of the 3270, as the screen reader
program handles it in some ways far better than more typical
character-by-character UI on, say, Linx.
I will reach out off-list
regarding the larger manual collections, as I don't want to
clutter up the traffic :)
Best,
Zack.
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025, at 9:08 AM, René Ferland via
groups.io wrote:
On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 09:32 PM, Zachary Kline wrote:
The latter is particularly helpful for me as a
totally blind user.
I am not sure what you mean here, no previous knowledge
or no sight? :-/
?
Anyway, if it is the first, I would recommend reading
this:
?
?
It introduces to the basics of z/VM (actually z/VM 5.3)
but most of the material there applies to VM/ESA as well
(since it covers the basics).
?
Cheers,
?
Rene FERLAND, Montreal
?
P.S. -- I have a fairly complete documentation of z/VM
5.3 in PDF format (81 books for 288M). If you are
interested, just tell me, I will send it to you.
?
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Re: IBM Documentation Hidden At IBM
On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 03:18 AM, Stefan A. Haubenthal wrote:
Maybe Bitsavers is a better place than Wayback Machine?
Maybe both? This is a copy from Wayback of IBM PDFs, with their confusing filenames.
?
?... Mark S.
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Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
As a somewhat frustrated follow-up, I've discovered that my screen reader does not handle the IBM Softcopy utility at all, at least not without use of OCR, which is the very problem I was trying to avoid. :) So I'm either stuck using books in PDF or figuring out how to convert BOO files to another format, which appears to be non-trivial.
Thanks for the tip concernning versions of ZVM. The core concepts appear to be similar even if the details differ. I will continue the journey despite setbacks :)
Best,
Zack.
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025, at 4:24 PM, Zachary Kline via groups.io wrote:
Hi?René and all,
Thanks for the quick and helpful responses. I am, as it happens, without sight of any kind, hence why I prefer documents in original electronic format whenever possible to spare me from having to figure out what the sometimes badly mangled OCR results are saying.
I've so far found the provided redbook invaluable. I'm at the point of running MVS/ESA under VM using pre-provided directory entries, which is a decent step :)
I particularly appreciate the block-oriented nature of the 3270, as the screen reader program handles it in some ways far better than more typical character-by-character UI on, say, Linx.
I will reach out off-list regarding the larger manual collections, as I don't want to clutter up the traffic :)
Best,
Zack.
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025, at 9:08 AM, René Ferland via groups.io wrote:
On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 09:32 PM, Zachary Kline wrote:
The latter is particularly helpful for me as a totally blind user.
I am not sure what you mean here, no previous knowledge or no sight? :-/
?
Anyway, if it is the first, I would recommend reading this:
?
?
It introduces to the basics of z/VM (actually z/VM 5.3) but most of the material there applies to VM/ESA as well (since it covers the basics).
?
Cheers,
?
Rene FERLAND, Montreal
?
P.S. -- I have a fairly complete documentation of z/VM 5.3 in PDF format (81 books for 288M). If you are interested, just tell me, I will send it to you.
?
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Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
Hi?René and all,
Thanks for the quick and helpful responses. I am, as it happens, without sight of any kind, hence why I prefer documents in original electronic format whenever possible to spare me from having to figure out what the sometimes badly mangled OCR results are saying.
I've so far found the provided redbook invaluable. I'm at the point of running MVS/ESA under VM using pre-provided directory entries, which is a decent step :)
I particularly appreciate the block-oriented nature of the 3270, as the screen reader program handles it in some ways far better than more typical character-by-character UI on, say, Linx.
I will reach out off-list regarding the larger manual collections, as I don't want to clutter up the traffic :)
Best,
Zack.
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025, at 9:08 AM, René Ferland via groups.io wrote:
On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 09:32 PM, Zachary Kline wrote:
The latter is particularly helpful for me as a totally blind user.
I am not sure what you mean here, no previous knowledge or no sight? :-/
?
Anyway, if it is the first, I would recommend reading this:
?
?
It introduces to the basics of z/VM (actually z/VM 5.3) but most of the material there applies to VM/ESA as well (since it covers the basics).
?
Cheers,
?
Rene FERLAND, Montreal
?
P.S. -- I have a fairly complete documentation of z/VM 5.3 in PDF format (81 books for 288M). If you are interested, just tell me, I will send it to you.
?
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Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 11:32 PM, Zachary Kline wrote:
I wondered if anyone had a good source for VM/ESA era manuals they could point me to? I've looked on Bitsavers but there doesn't seem to be much.
I've stumbled on this collection, in BookManager format.
?
?
?... Mark S.
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Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
Before IBM took down a very handy publication website, I was able to get some of VM/ESA 2.4 documentation.? I use SoftCopy Reader to access my manuals and the folder for VM/ESA 2.4 pubs is about 263mb consisting of 125 files that are PDF and BOO.
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Let me know if you are interested.
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Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 09:32 PM, Zachary Kline wrote:
The latter is particularly helpful for me as a totally blind user.
I am not sure what you mean here, no previous knowledge or no sight? :-/
?
Anyway, if it is the first, I would recommend reading this:
?
?
It introduces to the basics of z/VM (actually z/VM 5.3) but most of the material there applies to VM/ESA as well (since it covers the basics).
?
Cheers,
?
Rene FERLAND, Montreal
?
P.S. -- I have a fairly complete documentation of z/VM 5.3 in PDF format (81 books for 288M). If you are interested, just tell me, I will send it to you.
?
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Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
On Wed, Mar 26, 2025 at 10:49 AM, Berry van Sleeuwen wrote:
There are some manuals at but to reach them you need to know the exact filename (pdf) to get access. When you go to this exact url you get an error, and certainly no listing of all available files. So it's hard to say if the VM/ESA manuals are in there.
?
I think all the ESA documents have been removed.. Following the link from the product announcement page gives a 404
?
A few years ago there was a website that provided an active bookmanager but he got a take-down request from IBM, IBM stated that it's proprietary content was available on the IBM website. Well, maybe back then, but certainly not anymore. All IBM Bookmanager websites have been shutdown in recent years, or at least the bookmanager application is no longer available. Publibz used to host such environment. At least I'm glad I still have my old bookmanager files available, that includes all VM/ESA 2.x manuals. If you manage to get hold of an old documention CD that will include the bookmanager files. PDF versions of the publications is more recent, I have some PDF versions of VM/ESA 2.4 but not from earlier versions, that's all .BOO.
I know of at least one site with .BOO files. The Library Reader for Windows and later Softcopy Reader which reads these is still downloadable from the IBM web site
?
?
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-softcopy-reader-windows-v40-0
Apart from Bitsavers I don't know if there is any easy accessable material available.
There once was an IBM utility to manage these, but it seems to have vanished. The book files seem to have vanished.
For general VM manuals you might take a look at the official IBM VM Libarary page. In Indexed pdf's at there is a zip file with the old z/VM 5.4 documentation. Indeed while not ideal, most of it is also applicable for VM/ESA. Obviously z/VM has a lot of new features that is not included in VM/ESA but it does help.
Regards, Berry.
Op 26-03-2025 om 05:31 schreef Zachary Kline via groups.io:
Hi All,
I guess this question probably comes up a lot, but here we go again. :)
I wondered if anyone had a good source for VM/ESA era manuals they could point me to? I've looked on Bitsavers but there doesn't seem to be much.
I'm mostly interested in ESA because it seems both relatively easy to run on Hercules and likely to have manuals in original electronic format. The latter is particularly helpful for me as a totally blind user. OCR is not ideal.
I know a lot of things used to be available from IBM, but they seem to move around a lot or vanishh without much fanfare.
I'm particularly looking for electronic copies of any tutorial material, the general information manuals, concepts, and so on. I'm very new to mainframes as a hobby, though have a slight acquaintance with MVS and its ilk.
Thanks much :)
Best,
Zack.
P.S. I did find a thread earlier which linked to a giant Internet Archive directory, but that interface is absurd and I have no idea how to find anything in particular using the big table.
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Re: Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
There are some manuals at
but to reach them you need to know the exact filename (pdf) to get
access. When you go to this exact url you get an error, and
certainly no listing of all available files. So it's hard to say
if the VM/ESA manuals are in there.
A few years ago there was a website that provided an active
bookmanager but he got a take-down request from IBM, IBM stated
that it's proprietary content was available on the IBM website.
Well, maybe back then, but certainly not anymore. All IBM
Bookmanager websites have been shutdown in recent years, or at
least the bookmanager application is no longer available. Publibz
used to host such environment. At least I'm glad I still have my
old bookmanager files available, that includes all VM/ESA 2.x
manuals. If you manage to get hold of an old documention CD that
will include the bookmanager files. PDF versions of the
publications is more recent, I have some PDF versions of VM/ESA
2.4 but not from earlier versions, that's all .BOO.
Apart from Bitsavers I don't know if there is any easy accessable
material available.
For general VM manuals you might take a look at the official IBM
VM Libarary page. In Indexed pdf's at
there is a zip file with the old
z/VM 5.4 documentation. Indeed while not ideal, most of it is also
applicable for VM/ESA. Obviously z/VM has a lot of new features
that is not included in VM/ESA but it does help.
Regards, Berry.
Op 26-03-2025 om 05:31 schreef Zachary
Kline via groups.io:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Hi All,
I guess this question probably comes up a lot, but here we go again. :)
I wondered if anyone had a good source for VM/ESA era manuals they could point me to? I've looked on Bitsavers but there doesn't seem to be much.
I'm mostly interested in ESA because it seems both relatively easy to run on Hercules and likely to have manuals in original electronic format. The latter is particularly helpful for me as a totally blind user. OCR is not ideal.
I know a lot of things used to be available from IBM, but they seem to move around a lot or vanishh without much fanfare.
I'm particularly looking for electronic copies of any tutorial material, the general information manuals, concepts, and so on. I'm very new to mainframes as a hobby, though have a slight acquaintance with MVS and its ilk.
Thanks much :)
Best,
Zack.
P.S. I did find a thread earlier which linked to a giant Internet Archive directory, but that interface is absurd and I have no idea how to find anything in particular using the big table.
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Current source for VM/ESA Manuals?
Hi All,
I guess this question probably comes up a lot, but here we go again. :)
I wondered if anyone had a good source for VM/ESA era manuals they could point me to? I've looked on Bitsavers but there doesn't seem to be much.
I'm mostly interested in ESA because it seems both relatively easy to run on Hercules and likely to have manuals in original electronic format. The latter is particularly helpful for me as a totally blind user. OCR is not ideal.
I know a lot of things used to be available from IBM, but they seem to move around a lot or vanishh without much fanfare.
I'm particularly looking for electronic copies of any tutorial material, the general information manuals, concepts, and so on. I'm very new to mainframes as a hobby, though have a slight acquaintance with MVS and its ilk.
Thanks much :)
Best,
Zack.
P.S. I did find a thread earlier which linked to a giant Internet Archive directory, but that interface is absurd and I have no idea how to find anything in particular using the big table.
--
Zachary Kline
zkline@...
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Re: IBM Documentation Hidden At IBM
Maybe Bitsavers is a better place than Wayback Machine?
?
--
VM/370 CE V1R1.2, Hercules on macOS
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Re: Which Hercules and which host?
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 05:27 PM, Fish Fish wrote:
As far as I know, Jay's Aethra is supposed to be identical to a current SDL
4.x Hyperion version of Hercules, but without many of the modern more advanced
z/Architectural features that newer more modern "z" operating systems
need/require, but which older legacy operating systems such as VM/370 R6 have
no need for, thus making it slightly faster than SDL 4.x Hyperion. (How much
faster, I have no idea. I've never bothered to try measuring it.)
All these responses are useful. Thanks! As I don't have any need for "z" operating systems, nor licenses, I'll probably go Aethra. Speed isn't really an issue for me, but I always lean toward lighter weight systems if I have a choice.
My old shop was a 370/148 when I started, and a 4300 series when I left.
Excellent hosting and configuration advice, I wasn't aware of the helper.
Thanks again all,
Troy.
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Re: IPCS? The Unwanted/Unneeded Application
On 3/21/2025 8:18 PM, Mark A. Stevens via wrote:
Do we need IPCS?
I think Amdahl had its own dump analysis program (ANALYZE ?). If
that is available, I would look at that.
The best dump tool I've ever seen, bar none, ?was Kolinar's KPROBE, and I spent 20 years working on applications for VM, 12 of them developing and supporting VMBACKUP and its siblings.? I vaguely recall that Jim Bergstrom sold Kolinar to VM Systems Group, which later became Relay Technologies.? I can't remember whether we (Sterling Software) acquired KPROBE when Relay sold us some of its VM products, or whether it stayed behind.? Regardless, it's almost certainly lost to the sands of time now. ?
KPROBE was like XEDIT for dumps.? My colleagues and I wrote several hundred KPROBE macros to make analyzing dumps easier, in Rexx, of course.
Ross
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Mark A. Stevens
Zachary Kline
Jim Snellen
René Ferland
Stefan A. Haubenthal