[net.mail] uucp on IBM mainframe ?!

pwu@uwmacc.UUCP (Peter Wu) (08/08/86)

--
Does anyone know if there's software available for IBM mainframe
(running MVS 370 XA) to do uucp (i.e. hook up to usenet) with
an unix host?

(If I posted this in the wrong newsgroup, could someone tell me
which newsgroup to post this to? Thanks).

peter
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) (08/18/86)

In article <133@uwmacc.UUCP> pwu@uwmacc.UUCP (Peter Wu) writes:
>Does anyone know if there's software available for IBM mainframe
>(running MVS 370 XA) to do uucp (i.e. hook up to usenet) with
>an unix host?

Sort of.  If you're running VM, then under VM you can run IX/370 which
is the official IBM version of TSSIX, which was AT&T's Unix port running
on top of a stripped down version of TSS/370, now all under VM.  IX/370 is
a real Unix port, and as such comes along with uucp.  There are a few hitches,
though.  The first is that IX/370 is pretty expensive.  It's an IBM mainframe
product and priced to match.  The next is that you need a Series/1 mini to
run your async lines, since IBM does not generally support transparent ascii
connections to their mainframe systems.

What it really boils down to is that under the usual IBM operating systems,
both hardware and software conspire to keep you from running uucp.  The best
bet, if you don't want IX/370, is to look at the various packages which make
a Unix system seem to be a remote node on an IBM-style network.
-- 
John R. Levine, Javelin Software Corp., Cambridge MA +1 617 494 1400
{ ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.EDU
The opinions expressed herein are solely those of a 12-year-old hacker
who has broken into my account and not those of any person or organization.

ken@argus.UUCP (Kenneth Ng) (08/21/86)

In article <191@ima.UUCP>, johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) writes:
> In article <133@uwmacc.UUCP> pwu@uwmacc.UUCP (Peter Wu) writes:
> >Does anyone know if there's software available for IBM mainframe
> >(running MVS 370 XA) to do uucp (i.e. hook up to usenet) with
> >an unix host?
> 
> Sort of.  If you're running VM, then under VM you can run IX/370 which
> is the official IBM version of TSSIX, which was AT&T's Unix port running
> on top of a stripped down version of TSS/370, now all under VM.  IX/370 is
> a real Unix port, and as such comes along with uucp.  There are a few hitches,
> though.  The first is that IX/370 is pretty expensive.  It's an IBM mainframe
> product and priced to match.  The next is that you need a Series/1 mini to
> run your async lines, since IBM does not generally support transparent ascii
> connections to their mainframe systems.
> John R. Levine, Javelin Software Corp., Cambridge MA +1 617 494 1400
> { ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.EDU

Pardon?  Check out a machine called the 7171, it enables standard ASCII
terminals to talk straight to IBM systems.  If you don't have that you
can use an async port on the IBM to talk ASCII, you just have to write
the driver for it, but is can be done.  Its not easy, but it can be done.

-- 
Kenneth Ng:
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bzs@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Barry Shein) (08/22/86)

>Pardon?  Check out a machine called the 7171, it enables standard ASCII
>terminals to talk straight to IBM systems.  If you don't have that you
>can use an async port on the IBM to talk ASCII, you just have to write
>the driver for it, but is can be done.  Its not easy, but it can be done.
>Kenneth Ng:

C'mon Ken. There's a little more to getting UUCP up on an IBM Mainframe
than locating an ASCII port.

Besides, the 7171 does 327x protocol emulation (unless, perhaps,
you do a lot of magic to supress it.) That would be like trying to
do UUCP into a port running a shell under emacs.

I agree that some 3705 type ascii line would be a place to start, but
I've written that program (not UUCP though, a dedicated program to do
print spooling between UNIX and an IBM mainframe, don't ask for it,
we run our own O/S on our IBM, but that doesn't affect this discussion.)
The main problem is that the 370x lines are half-duplex and will not
listen to you unless they are ready to (and not always then, they
really act up if they get an overrun.) You need a real lock-step
protocol that knows a fair amount about their behavior and turn-around
characteristics.

However, people have gotten Kermit to work on both 370x and 7171s
which might be a place to look for inspiration.

Of course, then you would need UUCP. Which means you'd need a compatible
C compiler if you were to port it. Which means you'd need emulation
support for all the UNIX system calls, or to rewrite all that.

Which means that if you don't have any of that it might be cheaper to
get either IX/370 or Amdahl's UTS, easier also. It might not be cheaper,
depends on what additional hardware you might need to run UNIX.

Unfortunately, the person said MVS. Most MVS shops don't run VM and
probably wouldn't (although MVS will run under VM, it costs a few
percent of the machine and I believe XA support and SNA is just
becoming available.) UTS runs on the bare machine, but that would
preclude running MVS, so save your breath, I doubt they would do
that.

Oh well, there are possible solutions, but none are trivial. One
of the solutions is, don't bother, go get the right machine and
let the IBM do what it's good at; searching massive data bases.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University