Introduction - IBM 3270 Operator's Manual

Introduction
Having a keyboard as part of a 3278 Display Station is optional. To the operators
of most 3278 Display Stations, the keyboard will be their main contact with the
display station and, through it, with the host system.
The keyboard controls the display station and provides a means of signaling the
program. It is through the keyboard that you display data on the display screen.
The 3278 operates like a typewriter. Without looking at your keyboard, you
can easily find the home row keys. The F and J keys on typewriter keyboards
have deeper than normal depressions on the key face. On data entry keyboards,
the three numeric keys on the home row (4, 5, and 6) have this deeper depression.
Typing on the keyboard prints the characters on the screen instead of on paper.
This is an improvement when you have to correct typing errors. Just move the
cursor to the error, and key in the correct character . You can check anything
you have keyed except functions and non display fields because the document
is always visible.
Your keyboard contains a clicker that causes a click when you press the keys.
You can turn the click off or on by using the Click (
c::n )
key on your key-
board. It is important to know that generally:
• When you have the clicker turned on, the click tells you that the keyboard
is operational and that the data you are keying is being accepted. In this
case, absence of the click indicates that the keyboard is disabled.
• When you have the clicker turned off, the absence of the click tells you that
the keyboard is operational and that the data you are keying is being acoepted.
In this case, the presence of the click indicates that the keyboard is disabled.
Therefore, by being aware of the clicking, or of its absence, you can tell when the
operation of your keyboard is not normal. When operation is not normal, your
display station Operator Information Area symbols aid you in correcting the
problem.
Note: For a 3278 not attached to a 3274 or to a 3276, the functions of some
of these keys may be different from those described here. Refer to the
appropriate appendix for a description of those differences.
Chapter 3. Keyboards 3-3