"xt3270"? When I was at IBM, we called it the "3270-PC". Very nice machine, but not as nice as the 3270-PC/G or 3270-PC/GX, the graphics terminal versions. The latter had a graphics coprocessor box almost as large as a PC, and a 19 inch monitor (I think 1280x1024 resolution) 3278 is an extremely dumb terminal. It not only needs a mainframe, but AFAIK it needs a 3274 or 3174 "terminal controller" - a minicomputer dedicated to MUXing terminals to an IBM channel, which also ran most of the local loop on the terminal and sent packets to the mainframe (a sort of PAD, I suppose). I can't remember how much of the "dumb terminal" functionality was in the 3274 but I used to suspect it was quite a lot... 3278 is indeed monchrome, 3279 the colour version. Superseded (mid '80s) by 3178 and 3179, and some cheaper monochrome ones (3196?) To reply to some other comments on the recent IBM thread, Yes, I might take a system/38 if someone offered it to me. I don't have anywhere to put it but I might find room at the back of my garage. I'd prefer a System/34 though - mainly because that's the machine I worked on when I was at IBM. I agree with Tony, though - difficult to maintain with all the custom chips. Allison, I don't think when [previous contributor] described it as a "room-sized 8088" he was talking about the processor involved. The processor is a custom IBM minicomputer on ?several boards, based on the System/32 and System/34 and things. I think he was making a performance comparison, and probably being a bit unfair. The IBM AS/400 is, I am told, based on the S/38. Philip.