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From: dbfunk@ICAEN.UIOWA.EDU (David B Funk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re:  IBM 3270 TermCap
Message-ID: <9001160727.AA00167@icaen.uiowa.edu>
Date: 16 Jan 90 07:17:46 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: Iowa Computer Aided Engineering Network, University of Iowa
Lines: 26

in posting <9001151633.AA08859@umix.cc.umich.edu> Scott Ferguson <SRFERGU@ERENJ.BITNET> says:

> I've got a PS/2 connected to our Company IBM Mainframe, using an IBM 3270
> terminal emulator on the PC. Miraculously, the IBM mainframe has TCP/IP
> functionality (wow!), so I can telnet & ftp from the mainframe to my
> ethernet nodes. However, the only terminal type supported by the mainframe
> is IBM 3270 (Now there's the IBM I know and hate!)
> 
> When I telnet to my machines, I'd like to be able to set my term type,
> but there's no 3270 entry in termcap. I suspect it may not be possible,
> since 3270 terminals are kind of fruity anyway, but does anyone have a
> termcap entry for one of these?

    Sorry Scott, you need more than just a termcap entry for a 3270.
The 3270 is an IBM block mode EBCDIC character set device. You need
a whole program to emulate its behaivor and do the ASCII <=> EBCDIC
conversion. Many Unix systems provide just such a program for telnet
access to IBM systems, called "tn3270".
    Currently Apollo doesn't support tn3270 (at least not that I
know of). I once got the sources for tn3270 off the net and tried to
build it under sr10.1. It produced a program that ran but promptly
locked up each time I tried to use it. Does anybody have a working
Apollo port of tn3270? Does anybody know if Apollo/HP plans to support
it in the near future?

Dave Funk