The CBT tape
Naspa MVS library (CBT tape) is THE site for MVS Freeware : The
CBT Tape Home Page.
The access to Naspa MVS library is now
restricted.
Sam Golob gives recent information about the CBT tape.
Here are on my site the utilities that were
the most useful for me :
Showmvs is
a must have (you may run it in batch or call it directly from TSO).
You can unload SHOWMVS from Gilbert Saint-flour's site. Gilbert
is the original author of Showmvs, enlighted contributors are now
Roland Schiradin and Jerry Morris.
REVIEW is great for displaying VSAM files, SMF files, etc.
It is accessible via
CBT Tape file 134.
A very handy disassembler is DISASM. Rebuild the zones and the code in no time.
It is accessible via
CBT Tape file 217.
Free PDS version 8.5
is a useful (although not for newbies) utility to do whatever you want on PDS files,
it is available on http://members.aol.com/freepds.
Vtocutil
version 2.2 to list and change Format-1 DSCB information for DASD volumes
with Indexed VTOCs.
The best dynamic allocation program is
DYNAM (on CBT089).
Xephon
Xephon archives are incredible ! There are hundreds of mainframe
related articles and programs for free !
Some are of big interest, like
this super scratch program,
or this general purpose subroutine
to manage VSAM files or
routines for accessing cross-memory storage in REXX.
SHARE
SHARE organization is working on a "MVS cluster"
that provides interesting samples and presentations. I recommend SRS,
a freeware based on the new SAPI interface, as a clever replacement for External Writers.
SHARE
Proceedings on the Web are a unique source of information (many presentations).
Click on "sessions" to access the all of them.
Free monitors
Not every site can afford Candle's or BMC's or Landmark's tools. Here are good quality
free monitors.
Doug Nadel's
ISPF tools : Tasid, a free MVS monitor ; QueryENQ, a REXX function to return ENQ
status on a data set or any rname/qname ; and many more ! Doug is a well known ISPF expert.
Doug's old page on IBM's site has disappeared.
MXI (MVS eXtended Information) from SEC in UK is an ISPF-based application that
enables the MVS Systems Programmer to display important configuration
information about the active MVS system. I find it gives in-depth information.
IBM
OK, IBM is a money-maker - however they offer some free stuff.
TRSMAIN
is a free IBM compression utility that is available on the
Tech Support IBM site.
The OpenEdition Setup Verification Program (SVP) from IBM: a very good sample of REXX building and using panels on the fly.
OS/390 UNIX System Services Tools and toys.
Hercules
Hercules
is an open source software implementation of the mainframe
System/370 and ESA/390 architectures. Hercules was also available
here.
And you may also build Hercules
for Windows. There is also a
discussion group for users of the Hercules ESA/390 mainframe emulator. You may run
OS/360 under Hercules, read the
Introduction to Generating and Running OS/360 on Hercules.
Other (mainframe)
MVS documentation:
interesting documents from Clemson University.
TCP/IP monitor: Dave
Alcock's freeware for monitoring TCP/IP from ISPF.
LPALIST: interesting utility
from Michael Cleary to analyze your LPA.
REXXFP: useful system-oriented
subroutines for REXX from Gerard Nicol.
The REXX Macros Toolbox : David
McRitchie's utilities. David is also a SPF/PC fan.
Leonard Woren has various MVS & TSO
programs, including TSO QUEUE and TAPEMAP.
Jan Jaeger's
S/390 System Utilities: Standalone utilities for MVS, including editor,
VTOC list, device list, DASD ZAP etc. I have no time to review them, but
ZZSA (stand-alone utility for DASD handling) seemed of interest.
Info-ZIP is an excellent compression product, that can run under MVS
and is compatible with PKZip !
Shareware utilities
from ColeSoftware.
Other more or less mainframe related freeware products that I use every day
QWS3270: Jim
Rymerson's very useful "Windows Sockets 3270 Telnet" - I use it to get connected to
MVS systems across the Net.
WS_FTP : a
popular FTP utility, available for download.
Whois-IP (freeware) does a lookup
in the RIPE, APNIC and ARIN databases to find IP address info.
SnadBoy's Revelation,
to recover saved passwords from those charming asterisks.
Speedtest
to test the bandwidth delivered by your provider.
UltraEdit
is the best NotePad replacement.
Aida32: a good PC system information tool.
Other products (do a Google seach !):
Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds
from your computer ;
ZoneAlarm provides Internet security for any individual computer by blocking
unwanted Internet connections or
malicious programs, like Spyware and Trojan horse ;
HashCalc is
an easy-to-use tool that allows to compute message digests and checksums for files.
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