drg@rlvd.UUCP (06/14/85)
We have a lot of different machines on site, VAXen, PR1MEs, GEC, IBM... There is an office automation suite on the IBM mainframe called PROFS. It uses IBM 3270 terminals in full screen mode over direct coax lines at some fantastic bit rate. It is possible to access it over a standard terminal line connected to Cifer2634 terminals which do 3270 emulation in firmware. I am unsure whether this is a local embellishment. Does anyone out there have, or have pointers to, 3270 emulation software for Un*x, which could map the control sequences necessary to use *ANY* vdu that offered enough funtionality. The idea is that people should be able to read their electronic mail on PROFS using a lap-top portable over a telephone line, so that the office goes wherever you do! Alternatively, does anyone know of a portable which will do it already?
clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) (06/17/85)
In article <545@rlvd.UUCP> drg@rlvc.UUCP (Duncan Gibson) writes: > >We have a lot of different machines on site, VAXen, PR1MEs, GEC, IBM... >There is an office automation suite on the IBM mainframe called PROFS. >It uses IBM 3270 terminals in full screen mode over direct coax lines I assume that you mean 3278-2,3,4 and 3279 (colour) terminal operation. (3278-2 is 24*80, -3 is 36*80, -4 is 48*80, 3279 is 24*80) > ... > >Does anyone out there have, or have pointers to, 3270 emulation >software for Un*x, which could map the control sequences necessary to use >*ANY* vdu that offered enough funtionality. The idea is that people should There are three alternative categories. I prefer (2), because it works with any terminal: 1) 3270/SNA emulation on the user's terminal PC, these are some possibilities: (I think that they are all oriented towards Coax connects (direct or remote cluster) on IBM PC's). 1) IRMA (tm) cards from Digital Communications Assoc. Coax solution, Runs on PC's. 303 Technology Park, Norcross, Georgia 30092 (404)-448-1400 2) Protocol Computers Inc (separate box) Any PC compatible 6150 Canoga Ave, suite 100 Woodland Hills CA (800) 423-5904 3) Codex 20 Cabot Boulevard Mansfield, MA 02048 (617)-364-2000 4) ACCESS/SNA3270 from Communications Solutions Inc. (part of Visicorp) 992 S. Saratoga-Sunnyvale Rd. San Jose, California 95129 (408)-725-1568 5) Connectware (tm) from CXI (not related to our company in any way) 3606 West Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303-4229 (415)-424-0700 6) PC-3270 from IBM - special version of the IBM-PC that provides 3278/9 emulation. I've seen a couple - but they're probably quite expensive, nor do I know for sure what restrictions it imposes upon PCDOS use of the PC) I have only seen IRMA cards in operation. They seem to work just fine. I don't know for sure whether any of these companies have software for UNIX. 2) There is at least two systems that are run on the IBM mainframe that make ordinary dumb terminals look like 3278's (ideal for dialup use without having to have remote clusters). I can only remember one of them: SIM3270 from SIMWARE, Simware Inc, 969 Bronson Ave., Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1S 4G8 (613)-235-4130 This apparently has become quite a popular product. I have used it quite a bit and it works quite well. It runs on VM/CMS as a DVM and provides 3278 emulation for almost ANY kind of ASCII serial terminal. You can access anything via this software, including (yech!) PROFS. They probably also have some PC products to do the same thing. The SIM3270 approach is probably a LOT cheaper than having to put hardware in all of the PC's, and it has the advantage of working with any terminal. It even runs over DATAPAC/Tymnet half-duplex packetized networks. I don't know whether this has been upgraded to 3279 (colour) emulation. 3) IBM Passthru works with IBM 3101 ASCII terminals. I don't think that it supports any other terminals nor am I sure about remote access. -- Chris Lewis, UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321
herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS]) (06/18/85)
In article <1023@mnetor.UUCP> clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) writes: > 2) There is at least two systems that are run on the IBM mainframe > that make ordinary dumb terminals look like 3278's (ideal > for dialup use without having to have remote clusters). I can > only remember one of them: ... etc. ... the other is the Yale IUP available both from Yale University and IBM. it requires a series/1 frontend to act as a 3274 or 3276 terminal controller, but appears to the VM system as a real 3277 or 3278 terminal. there is no support yet for 3279 or 3290 terminal emulation. the number of terminals supported is quite limited (only a dozen or so) but vt52 and vt100's are supported. we run SIM3270 on our Gandalf LAN at between 300 and 2400 baud and Yale on our Sytek LAN at 4800 to 19.2K baud to connect our network of VM systems. a total user community of over 15,000 userids is supported with approximately 80 3278 terminals and about 3000 Sytek and Gandalf connections. we managed to recycle our series/1 machines from when we used to run WIDJET (some of you may have heard of it) on them as RJE workstation controllers interfacing to our OS/360 system. Yale is an expensive alternative but requires the least amount of resources on the IBM mainframes. connecting the series/1 computers to a LAN allows access wherever the LAN goes and supports dumb terminals of various types. the structure of the emulation software in the series/1 allows certain types of terminals to be added very easily by adding a terminal table. certain other terminal types are handled less well because of the limited dcescription that can be made of a terminal. using Sytek as the LAN has advantages because it's also the network used by IBM to connect their PC's together using the PC-DOS 3.1 networking software and hardware. Herb Chong... I'm user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!water!watdcsu!herbie CSNET: herbie%watdcsu@waterloo.csnet ARPA: herbie%watdcsu%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa NETNORTH, BITNET, EARN: herbie@watdcs, herbie@watdcsu
clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) (06/19/85)
In article <1484@watdcsu.UUCP> herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS]) writes: >In article <1023@mnetor.UUCP> clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) writes: >> 2) There is at least two systems that are run on the IBM mainframe >> that make ordinary dumb terminals look like 3278's (ideal >> for dialup use without having to have remote clusters). I can >> only remember one of them: >... etc. ... > >the other is the Yale IUP available both from Yale University and IBM. Thanks for the info. Is that the one that IBM promotes for their customers? (Eg: is this the one that VM/IX requires?) >it requires a series/1 frontend to act as a 3274 or 3276 terminal >controller, but appears to the VM system as a real 3277 or 3278 >... > >Yale is an expensive alternative but requires the least amount of >resources on the IBM mainframes. ... I think Herb means CPU "resources". SIM3270 only needs the standard ASCII => IBM hardware (a 3705 and/or COMTEN etc.). So, if you already have ASCII terminal access, SIM3270 is a lot cheaper, but may impose some added IBM CPU penalties because it uses a separate virtual machine to handle the terminals. I think that the performance impact on the BNR system (3033 with 250+ simultaneous users) was slight to insignificant - but not all that many people used it simultaneously. Anybody contemplating either will have to do their own evaluation. -- Chris Lewis, UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321
carter@masscomp.UUCP (Jeff Carter) (06/20/85)
Another possiblity for 3270 emulation is to use a device that makes the IBM talk on a reasonable LAN. Since UNIX likes TCP/IP ethernets, there is a company called Spartacus that markets a product that attaches to an IBM block multiplexer channel. The product is called KNET, and I have personnaly used it from IBM PC's, a MASSCOMP and a Sun. There is very little software that executes on the non-mainframe end, it would use TELNET or other standard TCP/IP utility. The K200 box does the protocol conversion. The contact info is: Spartacus, Inc. Ms. Pat Lefebure 5 Oak Park Dr. Bedford, MA 01730 (800)LAN-KNET <---cute, huh? (617)275-4220 [ I am not employed by Spartacus, but they make a neat product] Jeff Carter, MASSCOMP
herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS]) (06/20/85)
In article <1047@mnetor.UUCP> clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) writes: >Thanks for the info. Is that the one that IBM promotes for their >customers? (Eg: is this the one that VM/IX requires?) yale is not the system required to run VM/IX because the software is wrong. the hardware requirements are the same though (more or less). >I think Herb means CPU "resources". SIM3270 only needs the standard >ASCII => IBM hardware (a 3705 and/or COMTEN etc.). So, if you already have >ASCII terminal access, SIM3270 is a lot cheaper, but may impose some >added IBM CPU penalties because it uses a separate virtual machine to handle >the terminals. I think that the performance impact on the BNR system >(3033 with 250+ simultaneous users) was slight to insignificant - but >not all that many people used it simultaneously. Anybody contemplating >either will have to do their own evaluation. the performance penalty is not that high, but running half duplex sucks if you are used to full duplex or real 3270's. with our tightly coupled network of 2 4381's and 2 4341's, the performance penalty is minimal because the terminals are slow enough that the byte multiplexor channels are relatively lightly loaded. note that the virtual machines running SIM3278 are not run prefered in any way on our system and screen response is still about as fast as one can expect on 2400 BAUD lines even when the system is heavily loaded. if you are starting from scratch and already have ASCII hardware but no series/1 machines, SIM3278 is probably your best bet. if you want to go into ASCII support on your mainframes in a BIG way and have a LAN that supports at least 4800 baud, then going the Yale approach is the highest performance alternative. on an average day on our system, we have about 400 users on our network (watdcs is really 4 machines running with single system image SSI software). of these, about 45% are using yale, 40% are using SIM, and about 10% using real 3270's. a tiny fraction use direct ASCII dialup. I should mention at this point that Sytek is capable of video bandwith, so transfering data at about one megabit/s rate between your ASCII system and your series/1 controller is possible provided that both ends can handle the data transfer rate. also, with appropriate software on your IBM PC's (DOS 3.1) and hardware (network adaptors) you can use the same LAN to network your PC's. we have run demos on our Sytek network with a video source transmitting to various monitors about the campus. Herb Chong... I'm user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!water!watdcsu!herbie CSNET: herbie%watdcsu@waterloo.csnet ARPA: herbie%watdcsu%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa NETNORTH, BITNET, EARN: herbie@watdcs, herbie@watdcsu
ned@SCINEWS.UUCP (Ned Robie) (06/21/85)
> > We have a lot of different machines on site, VAXen, PR1MEs, GEC, IBM... > There is an office automation suite on the IBM mainframe called PROFS. > It uses IBM 3270 terminals in full screen mode over direct coax lines > at some fantastic bit rate. It is possible to access it over a standard > terminal line connected to Cifer2634 terminals which do 3270 emulation in > firmware. I am unsure whether this is a local embellishment. > > Does anyone out there have, or have pointers to, 3270 emulation > software for Un*x, which could map the control sequences necessary to use > *ANY* vdu that offered enough funtionality. The idea is that people should > be able to read their electronic mail on PROFS using a lap-top portable over > a telephone line, so that the office goes wherever you do! > > Alternatively, does anyone know of a portable which will do it already? A relatively inexpensive solution for providing 3270 emulation on a number of local ascii terminals is the new IBM 7171. I believe it is cheaper than the Yale IUP/Series 1 solution (if you don't have a Series 1 available) and have heard it works very well. The IBM 7171 is channel attached and looks like a 3274 control unit to the mainframe. Ascii terminals are simply connected to one of the (16 or more, I think) RS232 connections on the box. It can supposedly support just about any ascii terminal. -- Ned Robie
sjl@amdahl.UUCP (Steve Langdon) (06/22/85)
> Another possiblity for 3270 emulation > is to use a device that makes the > IBM talk on a reasonable LAN. Since UNIX likes > TCP/IP ethernets, there is a company called Spartacus > that markets a product that attaches to an IBM block > multiplexer channel. > > The product is called KNET, and I have personnaly used > it from IBM PC's, a MASSCOMP and a Sun. There is very > little software that executes on the non-mainframe end, > it would use TELNET or other standard TCP/IP utility. > The K200 box does the protocol conversion. This reply is a little misleading as the K200 is a fairly pure Ethernet (tm) to channel interface. The 3270 related smarts are in the KNET software. -- Stephen J. Langdon ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun,nsc}!amdahl!sjl [ The article above is not an official statement from any organization in the known universe. ]