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What makes it a 3270?

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bobsstuff

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Apr 10, 2008
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Oxnard, Calif (near L.A.)
In another thread I read that without the emulation card, an IBM 3270 if just a glorified 5150.

Exactly what is the emulations card? Is it the one with the BNC connector output?

The reason I ask is, I was out back in garage #4 digging out IBM computes to sell on ebay and have 4 3270's in the pile.

I am not a collector. I am a "junque dealer" who has been "collecting" a bunch of inventory I haven't sold yet. I used to sell electronics at HAM swapmeets and through Nuts & Volts magazine. Now I sell solely on ebay. I know this stuff to a limited degree, but am ignorant about the details, like "what makes it a 3270". OR How to correct a parity error on a 5150 -- another thread here has me ready to pull my parity error computer and see if I can easily solve its problem........thanks to you.
 
Plenty of PCs were equiped with 3270 emulation cards. But that does not make them 3270 PCs.

The 3270 PC series (which included ATs) had specific IBM model numbers. They also had a special display, keyboard, and corresponding cards to drive them. The keyboard in particular had enough keys to look like a proper 3270 style terminal keyboard.
 
There are front panel marked 3270, back panel marked 5271, so the box is a 3270. It is not a complete system.

Is the keyboard you are talking about the old metal case, 11 pound with a DB25 I/O connector? Like the one in this picture --I sold it on ebay a few months ago. http://www-electronicspart.com/a/ibm-keyboard-1.jpg
Actually I think I saw a couple of those today.

So my question is what makes my box a 3270 instead of something upgraded to become basically a 5150.
 
I have an NSA Elite 3270 emulator program. Could be used on DOS machines up to PS/2s.
It didn't require the extra boards which are on the 3270 XT.

A friend of mine back in the mid-90s used to access his university's main frame using a 3270 emulator. This brings up the question whether main-frames even still use the 3270 workstations ?

Lawrence
 
bobsstuff said:
There are front panel marked 3270, back panel marked 5271, so the box is a 3270. It is not a complete system.

Is the keyboard you are talking about the old metal case, 11 pound with a DB25 I/O connector? Like the one in this picture --I sold it on ebay a few months ago. http://www-electronicspart.com/a/ibm-keyboard-1.jpg
Actually I think I saw a couple of those today.

So my question is what makes my box a 3270 instead of something upgraded to become basically a 5150.
Click to expand...

I think that to be a true 3270PC, it would have to have at least three things:
  • A case with the correct badges.
  • A keyboard controller card (in slot 8, nearest the power supply).
  • The specialised video card (3270PCDA). If you haven't got the matching monitor for it, this will also work with an MDA display.

To boot up without warnings, a 3270PC should also have:
  • Specialised keyboard with 24 function keys.
  • Keyboard dongle, that connects the keyboard to both the keyboard card and the usual keyboard socket.
  • Host Connect card.

My particular specimen, as mbbrutman noted above, doesn't have its keyboard or dongle, so I get error 302 on booting. If anyone's got a 3270PC with a proper keyboard and wants to help me improve the accuracy of my webpage, I've written a program that should display the native scancodes the keyboard returns (obviously I can't test it).
 
On top of the hardware mentioned there was specialized software including the 3270 emulation software and some kind of TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) software along the lines of Borland's SideKick which allowed the 3270 PC to have several Notepads opened and onscreen while working in a 3270 session.

I used a 3270PC for awhile when I worked at IBM circa 1986 or so.
 
strollin said:
On top of the hardware mentioned there was specialized software including the 3270 emulation software and some kind of TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) software along the lines of Borland's SideKick which allowed the 3270 PC to have several Notepads opened and onscreen while working in a 3270 session.

I used a 3270PC for awhile when I worked at IBM circa 1986 or so.
Click to expand...

I have a couple of those softwares around here somewhere. If you need any, I'll send 'em along when I find 'em. (I was kinda under the impression that they were for a 3270 emulation board that goes in a regular PC).
 
Well, I'm old enough to have worked on the 3270, not the PC, but the real ones, developed long before the pc emulator. We used to have around 120 of them all hanging off an IBM mainframe 370/138 doing holiday reservations. All in 128k of memory, hehe.
 
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