29 Aug
2020
29 Aug
'20
11:23 p.m.
I have been working on a project for some time to connect a IBM3270
compatible Alfaskop terminal with its IBM 3274 compatible cluster
controller to the Hercules mainframe emulator.
Yesterday I eventually succeeded. I was able to login to TSO on my Hercules
system that ran MVS 3.8j.
Here are a couple quick video clips:
https://youtu.be/H1Sxt7xjn4Y
https://youtu.be/CFfB3yCN9OI
To achieve this I created a small piece of hardware I called SyncDongle,
essentially it's just a few level converters, connectors and a STM32F103
blue pill.
On the hardware I run a small piece of firmware, BSCBridge. It bridges
between the sync serial BSC used by the Alfaskop cluster controller and the
BSC variant that the 2703 emulation inside Hercules is using.
More information here: https://github.com/MattisLind/alfaskop_emu
and here http://www.datormuseum.se/peripherals/terminals/alfaskop
There are good chances that the SyncDongle/BSCBridge combo could work with
a 3274 or 3174 controller as well but I haven't tested since I don't have
one. But no guarantees given, though. If someone has a spare 3174-51R,
-61R, -81R or -91R I would be very interested in it.
Actually there is a good chance that it could work with general BSC use.
Maybe for NJE between Hercules and a real IBM machine? Or 2780/3780 RJE
terminals? Or other third party 3270 terminals using BSC.
The BSCBridge firmware only supports non transparent mode at this point, it
works fine with Alfaskop since it does not support anything else. Maybe a
showstopper for 3174 with 3279 terminals? SHouldn't be that difficult to
add transparent mode if needed.
/Mattis
31 Aug
31 Aug
4:58 p.m.
Wow Mattis this looks great, fantastic work!
I will see if I can solder up a unit from what you have up on github on
a perf board (I should have a few bluepills kicking around) and see if I
can assist in some way with testing on a 3174-61R I have.
Unfortunately its the only one I have and I have a few 3270 terminals so
I would like to keep it in my ownership.
But they definitely do show up, a lot more often than it seems the
terminals do nowadays.
I have the Ethernet controllers for my 3174-R61 which I know people
generally use for communications with things like Hercules but as those
are much less common it would be nice to see if we can verify this works
on these terminal controllers and make using 3270 terminals with
Hercules more accessible to people!
If you'd like me to work with you on testing this let me know. I'll
definitely see if I can try it out myself anyway.
Either way, fantastic work and thanks for putting everything up on github!
-Connor K
On 8/30/2020 02:23, Mattis Lind via cctalk wrote:
I have been working on a project for some time to
connect a IBM3270
compatible Alfaskop terminal with its IBM 3274 compatible cluster
controller to the Hercules mainframe emulator.
Yesterday I eventually succeeded. I was able to login to TSO on my Hercules
system that ran MVS 3.8j.
Here are a couple quick video clips:
https://youtu.be/H1Sxt7xjn4Y
https://youtu.be/CFfB3yCN9OI
To achieve this I created a small piece of hardware I called SyncDongle,
essentially it's just a few level converters, connectors and a STM32F103
blue pill.
On the hardware I run a small piece of firmware, BSCBridge. It bridges
between the sync serial BSC used by the Alfaskop cluster controller and the
BSC variant that the 2703 emulation inside Hercules is using.
More information here: https://github.com/MattisLind/alfaskop_emu
and here http://www.datormuseum.se/peripherals/terminals/alfaskop
There are good chances that the SyncDongle/BSCBridge combo could work with
a 3274 or 3174 controller as well but I haven't tested since I don't have
one. But no guarantees given, though. If someone has a spare 3174-51R,
-61R, -81R or -91R I would be very interested in it.
Actually there is a good chance that it could work with general BSC use.
Maybe for NJE between Hercules and a real IBM machine? Or 2780/3780 RJE
terminals? Or other third party 3270 terminals using BSC.
The BSCBridge firmware only supports non transparent mode at this point, it
works fine with Alfaskop since it does not support anything else. Maybe a
showstopper for 3174 with 3279 terminals? SHouldn't be that difficult to
add transparent mode if needed.
/Mattis
1 Sep
1 Sep
4:51 a.m.
Hello Connor!
Den tis 1 sep. 2020 kl 01:58 skrev Connor Krukosky via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org>:
Wow Mattis this looks great, fantastic work!
Thanks!
I will see if I can solder up a unit from what you have up on github on
a perf board (I should have a few bluepills kicking around) and see if I
can assist in some way with testing on a 3174-61R I have.
That should be easy to do on a perf board. And if you don't have MAX208
around you can replace them with something similar. Maybe the 3174 is not
so picky about interface signals and only need CTS so you could probably
skip most of them? The 9 pin serial port is not really necessary and is
mostly used for debugging. Two senders or three if CTS is required and one
receiver should be enough.
Unfortunately its the only one I have and I have a few
3270 terminals so
I would like to keep it in my ownership.
Sure. But if someone hears about a spare 3174, preferably the smaller ones,
I would be very interested. I have a 3279 and a 3178 that could be
interesting to test. In the longer run it would be interesting to do SDLC
integration over VTAM as well. The SDLC implementation on the STM32 seems
to work quite well, but there is quite a lot of work needed on the
comm3705.c code inside Hercules to get all things together.
But they definitely do show up, a lot more often than
it seems the
terminals do nowadays.
I have the Ethernet controllers for my 3174-R61 which I know people
generally use for communications with things like Hercules but as those
are much less common it would be nice to see if we can verify this works
on these terminal controllers and make using 3270 terminals with
Hercules more accessible to people!
If you'd like me to work with you on testing this
let me know. I'll
definitely see if I can try it out myself anyway.
Either way, fantastic work and thanks for putting everything up on github!
I have one tester now that has ordered boards and built one to connect to a
3174 with 3179 and 3178 terminals so I guess that I will get reports from
him if it isn't working. It is always nice with more testers, but there is
no hurry. If you do build one I am happy to help you get it working.
/Mattis
-Connor K
5:17 a.m.
On Sun, 30 Aug 2020 at 08:24, Mattis Lind via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I have been working on a project for some time to connect a IBM3270
compatible Alfaskop terminal with its IBM 3274 compatible cluster
controller to the Hercules mainframe emulator.
Yesterday I eventually succeeded. I was able to login to TSO on my Hercules
system that ran MVS 3.8j.
Here are a couple quick video clips:
https://youtu.be/H1Sxt7xjn4Y
https://youtu.be/CFfB3yCN9OI
Very impressive! I shared links to the videos on the FB vintage
mainframes group, where they are attracting some approving comments,
too. :-)
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lproven at gmail.com
Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven ? Skype: liamproven
UK: +44 7939-087884 ? ?R (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
7:13 a.m.
On Sun, Aug 30, 2020 at 2:24 AM Mattis Lind via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
To achieve this I created a small piece of hardware I
called SyncDongle,
essentially it's just a few level converters, connectors and a STM32F103
blue pill.
Neat!
There are good chances that the SyncDongle/BSCBridge
combo could work with
a 3274 or 3174 controller as well but I haven't tested since I don't have
one. But no guarantees given, though. If someone has a spare 3174-51R,
-61R, -81R or -91R I would be very interested in it.
I've got a -91R that I've been wishing that I could use. I could maybe be
persuaded to part with it...
I've also got a -61R with token ring, an -11L, and a few -21L's that are
more appropriate for use with my z890 or MP/2003.
Pat
2 Sep
2 Sep
1:32 a.m.
Awesome!
Marc
Reply-To: "Mattis com>" <mattislind at gmail.com>, "cctalk at
classiccmp.org" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
I have been working on a project for some time to connect a IBM3270
compatible Alfaskop terminal with its IBM 3274 compatible cluster
controller to the Hercules mainframe emulator.
Yesterday I eventually succeeded. I was able to login to TSO on my Hercules
system that ran MVS 3.8j.
Here are a couple quick video clips:
https://youtu.be/H1Sxt7xjn4Y
https://youtu.be/CFfB3yCN9OI
/Mattis
6:54 a.m.
Mattis: Is that SDLC implementation generally available? I see some interesting
discussion of the possibility on Stack Exchange (Uriel Katz), but no obvious reference to
a repository.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Mattis Lind via
cctalk
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2020 7:51 AM
To: Connor Krukosky; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: IBM 3270 compatible terminal connected to Hercules IBM mainframe emulator.
.... The SDLC implementation on the STM32 seems to work quite well ....
/Mattis
9:09 a.m.
Hello Paul,
Den ons 2 sep. 2020 kl 15:54 skrev Paul Birkel <pbirkel at gmail.com>:
Mattis: Is that SDLC implementation generally
available? I see some
interesting discussion of the possibility on Stack Exchange (Uriel Katz),
but no obvious reference to a repository.
It is here:
https://github.com/MattisLind/alfaskop_emu/tree/master/Utils/SDLCBridge
I haven't tested it to the extreme. Rather exchanging a few different
messages with a Informer 213 terminal and a 8274 chip. That showed no
problems. But then speeds were low. All sorts of buffering problems might
creep up if you ramp up speed.
/Mattis
1342
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connork＠connorsdomain.com -
curiousmarc3＠gmail.com -
lproven＠gmail.com -
mattislind＠gmail.com -
pat＠vax11.net -
pbirkel＠gmail.com