3270 Emulation; Magnetic Stripe Reader Feature; Elapsed Time Counter Feature; Feature Main Mpu - IBM 5280 Technical Newsletter

Page of SY31-QSOO-1
As updated April 15,1981
By TN L SN20-9588
3270 Emulation
The 3270 emulation feature can be installed on the com-
municatingmodels of the IBM 5280 only. This feature
emulates a 3277 model 2 keyboard/display (1920 characters)
attached to either a 3271 control unit (BSC protocol) or
to a 3274 control unit (SDLC protocol). The printers
attached to the IBM 5280 can be made to emulate a 1920
character buffer 3270 system printer.
Magnetic Stripe Reader Feature
The Magnetic Stripe Reader feature reads magnetically
encoded data from documents such as credit cards or
identification cards. This feature can be a security device
to ensure that only authorized persons can use the system,
or it can also speed up the entry of constant data such as
a credit number or an identification number. There can
be one magnetic stripe reader for each keyboard on the
system.
Elapsed Time Counter Feature
The Elapsed Time Counter feature measures elapsed time
to count keystrokes, to time the completion of a user's
application, or to check operator performance.
Feature Main MPU
The feature main MPU provides additional interface to
main storage. It works in parallel with the base main
MPU to provide faster main storage accessing for
attached devices.
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Communications Feature
The Communications feature allows the IBM 5280 to
communicate with another terminal or a host system
using B$C (binary synchronous communications) or
SDLC (synchronous data link control). Both SO LC and
BSC can be used, although not simultaneously. Only
programming changes are necessary to switch from one
to the other.
In a BSC network, the IBM 5280 can appear to the
remote station as an IBM 3741 Data Entry Station, an
IBM 3780 Data Communications Terminal, or, to host
RJE (remote job entry) systems, as a System/3 RJE data
station.
With BSC, the IBM 5280 can transmit and/or receive
using EBCDIC or ASCII transmission code and
transpar.ent or nontransparent data.
In an SDLC network, the IBM 5280 conforms to the
SNA (systems network architecture) definitions. See
Systems Network Architecture Support in this section
for a list of these definitions arid a description of
commands and responses supported.
One communications line can be attached to the IBM
5280. The line can be point-to-point switched, point-
to-point nonswitched, or multipoint. On a multipoint
line, the IBM 5280 can be a tributary station only. On
nonswitched lines, the IBM 5280 supports SNBU
(switched network backup), which allows the user to
use a switched line if the non-switched line is
unavailable.
The IBM 5280 can communicate over either half duplex
or full duplex lines; however, the IBM 5280
communicates in half duplex only. Full duplex lines
can be used to reduce line turnaround time. The
interface between the IBM 5280 and the line is
provided by the EIA/CCITT, DDSA, or the 38LS
feature. See Line Adapter Cards in this section for a
description of these features.