IBM 3270 controller emulation

[Guy Sotomayor Jr]

It might be worthwhile to look at the source for hercules (370, 390, z/series) emulator since that
includes support for 3270 terminals through tn3270.  It’s pretty good since I can use actual 327x
CUT terminals connected to a 3174 controller which connects to hercules emulating the mainframe.

TTFN - Guy

> On Dec 8, 2017, at 5:22 PM, Charles Anthony via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> I am trying to wire 3270 support into the DPS8/M emulator.
> 
> Multics supports 3270 via a bisync connection to the 3270 controller.
> Multics sends commands to the Front End Network processor, which
> (originally) passed the commands down the bisync line to the 3270.
> 
> I have a running Multics and running 3270 display emulators using tn3270
> (3270 over telnet), so I need to write the code that maps the Multics
> commands into 3270 controller commands (and vice versa) and manages the
> telnet connections to the 3270 display emulators and maps the tn3270
> traffic into 3270 controllers.
> 
> I don't need to actually implement the bisync communications; the
> controller emulator will be running inside the FNP emulator, but I need to
> express controller responses to Multics in the bisync format, as Multics is
> expecting that the responses arrived over a bisync connection.
> 
> The problem is that I have no idea how the 3270 controllers worked; I've
> looked through the bitsavers collection; those documents are largely
> concerned with the displays and tend to treat the controllers as 'black
> boxes' that just do the right thing.
> 
> So I am seeking pointers to documentation that will give me a better grasp
> of the controller functionality and/or discussions with someone who knows
> how they work.....
> 
> Thanks,
> -- Charles