Silicon Express Ltd has brought in a range of Personal Computer to System 34/36/38 and mainframe emulation products from US-based IDEAssociates. The IDEAcomm 5250 range includes the 5251 which gives local access via twin-axial cable and allows an MS-DOS micro to emulate the 5250 series of terminals and printers. The 5250/Remote and 5250/Modem are similar but access the host via synchronous modem connection. The board slots into the micro and offers 3180, 5251-11, 5291, 5292-1 and 5292-2 emulation with full 132 column support for 3180 terminals. The software includes printer emulation for IBM 5524, 5225, 5256 and 5219 as well as most serial and parallel printers. The range allows the micro to support concurrent tasks at the host and allows nultiple host sessions using windows and autoamtic station identification. The 5251D monochrome display adaptor card enables an IBM Personal to display the full 32 attribudes of a 5520 display. 5251/Share allows up to four micros to access a System 36 or 38 with one IDEAcomm 5251 emulation card. The 5251 card and software are UKP775, the 5250/remote costs UKP595, the 5251D costs UKP400, and 5251/Share card, software, two serial ports and RS-232 cable are UKP1,255. For micro to mainframe links, the 3278 enables an MS-DOS micro to emulate IBM 3278 models 2-5, 3179 and 3279 terminals remotely or locally. Full 132 column support for MOD 5 emulation enables the user to interface with mainframe applications requiring wider screen layouts and view entire documents without scrolling. A ‘hot key’ feature enablesusers to toggle between PC- DOS applications and emulation without logging off. The IDEAcomm 3278 can be used with SNA/SDLC or bisync protocols and is attached to the IBM 3274/3275 controllers via coaxial cable. There are two interface options with the 3278 – IDEA mode or IRMA mode, the former is said to be 60% faster during file transfer and screen updates and the 3278 includes file transfer software allowing you to upload or download files to and from the micro under the TSO or CMS host environments. It costs UKP800. 3287 printer emulation enables a micro to duplicate the functions of an IBM 3287 mainframe driver and a hot key enables printer emulation to run in background; it is UKP635.
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