24 Jan
1998
24 Jan
'98
4:26 p.m.
So, basically, they just used a terminal program, and rather than run it
through a serial port, they just routd it through a little faster coax
connection. Probably the board is just as (un)sophisticated as a serial
board compared to a network board.
Still, I wouldn't really want the 3270 on a network, but rather use it
as a terminal on UNIX or a DOS machine....
A 8088 is still pretty damn smart...
-Mike
William Donzelli wrote:
The REAL question is, if IBM used these as
terminals which could run
software, what did they have in them allowing them to use the network
ports? I mean that was 1984, DOS might have had some hooks, but they
would have sold it.
Somewhere, back at the homestead, I still have a bunch of xt3270 stuff
(software, manuals, etc.). I suppose I ought to go fetch it.
These really did not have to support "real" networking. In fact, they fit
somewhere between a network and a dumb terminal. Most mainframes talk to
terminals on a block basis, unlike minis that talk character by character.
The mainframe's terminals (in this case, a 3270 like device) acted as a
smart terminal, taking over a lot of the text inputting/formatting tasks.
The XT3270 does this - it just uses the XT as a brain.
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net