4526P@NAVPGS.BITNET.UUCP (02/03/87)
Here at the Naval Postgraduate School, modem comunication with our
IBM 3033 mainframe uses the VT100 protocol. I am looking for a better
way, if one exists. So, here are some specific questions:
1. Does anyone have any info on using the IBM 3278 Display Station's
own protocol? (We connect through 3274 control unit/adapter under
"A" rules for the local 3278's, but I'm not sure this is germane to
dial-ups.)
2. What file transfer protocols are there for both machines? Where
are they available? ( I know what's on the Fish disks. I need, e.g.,
an IBM Kermit. )
3. What pains does the EBCDIC to ASCII conversion cause? I can imagine
an encoded binary from a Unix site, traveling across the nets,
( usenet -> ARPAnet -> BITnet), translated from ASCII to EBCDIC, down
the modem lines, and then translated back to ASCII and unencoded.
What chance does it have of surviving?
4. Newer IBM displays ( I can't remember the model numbers ) have 4 color
text and graphics. Can a terminal emulator provide this capability?
For information, our system is an IBM 3033AP with 16M loosely coupled
with a 3033 Model U (16Mb) and an IBM 4381 Model M1 ( 8 Mb ), running
VM/SP CMS 4.0 for interactive computing, and MVS batch processing. The
RSCS networking uses JES3. The modems are 300 and 1200 baud.
To be effective, any protocol needs to emulate the behavior of an
IBM 3278 display station, so such things as the full-screen editor will
work. The VT100 protocol can handle this, but the performance is limited.
Also, VT100 is restricted to single color, and can't do graphics.
Please e-mail any information to me. I will summarize and post it.
LT Scott A. Norton, USN
4526P@NavPGS.BITNET