24 Jan
1998
24 Jan
'98
3:57 p.m.
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