Don't forget Nixdorf, although the machine I worked with was built by
Hitachi in Israel. It had a 3274 emulator that worked on a early LAN type
architecture, not quite the same and it also had a comms controller that
behaved like a 3174.
On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 6:40 PM Timothy Sipples <sipp...@sg.ibm.com> wrote:
> Alexander Huemer wrote:
> >I am new to this list and would like to discuss an idea and ask several
> >questions.
> >* Did anybody ever attempt to 'talk' to 3270 terminals with something
> > different than an IBM mainframe?
>
> Yes, here are some examples of entities that did exactly that:
>
> Amdahl
> Fujitsu
> Hitachi
>
> The so-called "plug compatible" mainframe vendors, in other words.
>
> IBM itself offered a couple choices that (in my view anyway) are fairly
> described as "non-mainframes." The IBM 3790 was one such example, a
> "distributed computer" announced in 1975. Many 3790s were connected to
> mainframes (IBM and non-IBM), and you needed a mainframe to create programs
> for it, but it could (and often did) operate independently.
>
> I found an article written by John J. Hunter and published in the October
> 6, 1986, edition of "Network World" that describes some other products,
> including IBM's own 3174 Subsystem Control Unit that had some interesting
> capabilities. Let's start with the IBM 3174, which was available with "an
> optional protocol converter adapter that allows IBM terminals to emulate
> Digital Equipment Corp. VT 100 and IBM 3101 terminals. It will also enable
> the terminals to communicate with Ascii host applications and public data
> networks." In other words, you could use an IBM 3174 with this optional
> adapter to enable your physical IBM 3270 series (e.g. IBM 3179 Model 1)
> terminals to communicate with DEC VAX, PDP, IBM Series/1, and various other
> systems that supported at least one of those two ASCII terminal protocols
> -- and there were gobs of them in the 1980s. The article alludes to
> attaching an IBM 3174 (with IBM 3270 series terminals) to a suitably
> equipped IBM PC/AT or IBM RT PC ("local applications-processing facilities
> [.] [u]nless personal computers are used....")
>
> The article also describes the directly competing products at that time:
> "the ITT Courier 9000 Series, the Lee Data 300/400 product line, and the
> Telex 270." The products also effectively turned physical IBM 3270 series
> terminals into ASCII terminals. ITT and Lee Data also offered local
> processors running the Xenix operating system.
>
> IBM also had something called the "IBM 5209 Link Protocol Converter" which
> allowed 3270 series devices to be attached to older and contemporary
> System/36, System/38, and AS/400 machines.
>
> >I guess the most straight-forward way to attempt something like that is
> >to use a 3270 terminal attached to a 3174 or similar and try to talk to
> >that instead of the terminal itself. I wouldn't know how to interface
> >with the terminal directly over the coax.
>
> If you can find an IBM 3174 equipped with the optional protocol converter
> adapter and the RS-232-C port for a host connection, you should be able to
> connect genuine IBM 3270 series terminals to, for example, a PC running
> Linux that has a serial port, or at least a USB port since you should be
> able to find a USB to RS-232-C "dongle" cable. The ITT, Lee Data, or Telex
> equipment described in "Network World" should also work if you can find it,
> although I have to believe the IBM 3174 equipment is easier to find.
>
> Bitsavers.org has a copy of IBM Publication GA27-3850 ("IBM 3174
> Establishment Controller Introduction") that describes the Asynchronous
> Emulation Adapter ("AEA") starting on page 2-2:
>
>
> http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/3174/GA27-3850-0_3174_Establishment_Controller_Introduction_Apr89.pdf
>
> According to that publication the AEA Feature was available for all the
> "large" and "medium" 3174 models, but not the "small" 8xx and 9xx models.
>
> For what it's worth, the November 23, 1987, edition of "Network World"
> describes another IBM 3174 competitor: the Harris H174-32L Local Control
> Unit, part of their "Challenger" line. It too included a protocol converter
> to allow IBM 3270 series terminals to "appear" as VT 100 compatible ASCII
> terminals to hosts, and it had RS-232 and RS-422 interfaces (plus some
> other choices) for host attachment, according to the article.
>
> An Ethernet connection might be trickier to get working than the RS-232-C
> interface, although if you can find a single IBM 3174 with both, that'd be
> nice. Token-Ring is another possibility, probably also with some protocol
> difficulty. It's rather easy to find used PCI Token-Ring adapters and IBM
> 8226 MAUs. (The IBM 8228 works too, but the unit and associated cabling are
> much bulkier.)
>
> As another completely different approach to getting genuine, physical IBM
> 3270 series terminals working with command line/VT-100-style Linux (as a
> notable example), hypothetically you could have one or more such terminals,
> any terminal controller required, a genuine vintage IBM mainframe, and
> perhaps a bit of custom software running on the mainframe. The IBM
> Multiprise 3000 seems like a reasonable choice in this role because it
> could itself run (now vintage) Linux, although I think you'll still need a
> terminal controller, such as an IBM 3174.
>
> Anyway, net net, yes, it's possible to do what you're describing, because
> it was pretty routinely actually done.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Timothy Sipples
> IT Architect Executive, Digital Asset & Other Industry Solutions, IBM Z &
> LinuxONE
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> E-Mail: sipp...@sg.ibm.com
>
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--
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