Rick Good news and bad news!
The good news is you would appear *not* to be among those <unsatisfactory>[1] individuals who imagine it is clever to block posts contributed by certain people just because they cannot abide the possibility that they may contain contrary opinions. The bad news is that you would appear to be very rude in that, although corrected, you just ignored the correction. I don't know if that's better or worse than my earlier assumption that you had, as a matter of policy, just not seen my post. > Having changed lots of "nappies" ... I hope your colour blindness - clearly involving red, yellow and green - doesn't also extend to brown. > ... on my nieces and nephews ... Changing the tone briefly, I hope that this has been good practice for more regular activity with your own descendants. > ... and ingested more than my fair share of "chips", both with and without fish, and with or without the newspaper wrapping, ... It appears that we are all going to have to take any reminiscences you may have to equipment from the late 1970's and early 1980's with a pinch of salt and perhaps also a sprinkling of vinegar. In the ignored post, I indicated a possible source for the confused recollection. It may be that the 3278-5 and the colourful 3279-2 and 3279-3 (both A and B) were even part of the same IBM announcement. As I also mentioned - if any attention had been paid - in order to "show off" the -5, I was obliged to roll up my sleeves and indulge in some VTAM/3270 programming so that the machine could "strut its stuff". The centre where I worked tended to get one of everything so, assuming I still retain an average memory after 30 or so years, I got a pretty good idea of not just the 3270 range of the time but also just about all the other clever devices which hitched a lift on the SNA bandwagon - and, although the focus was different, similar considerations applied to the "networking" division of the centre to which I moved in 1980 - via a related sort of center in California - but that's another story. The idea that the 3278-5 had been mislabelled actually came from "zMan", not me. However it would need more than a mislabelling in order to turn a 3279 into a 3278. Let me draw your attention to the following document, still available courtesy of "The Computer Refuge": IBM 3270 Information Display System Installation Manual - Physical Planning http://computer-refuge.org/bitsavers/pdf/ibm/system3/GA27-2787- 5_IBM3270_InformationDisplaySystem_InstallationManu al_PhysicalPlanning_Dec80.pdf > I would really doubt that IBM would allow 200+ mis-labeled terminals out of the plant, much less delivered to the same location, yet all the 3278-5 tubes at our shop exhibited the same characteristics. On page 5-20 you will see a picture of a 3278 and on page 5-22 a 3279, clear enough to jog your memory I hope. You will see that they differ not only in the number but also in shape.[2] - [1] Insert your favourite expression of disgust. [2] Since this is a "physical planning" manual, it would appear that the 3279 was designed for a lower desk than the 3278. Maybe if you visualise the office ... In Charles Jennen's famous words: <duet> As steals the morn upon the night, And melts the shades away: So truth does fancy's charm dissolve, And rising reason put to flight: The fumes that did the mind involve, Restoring intellectual day. </duet> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAQQG_Ck2vE - Chris Mason On Tue, 31 May 2011 13:42:00 -0500, Rick Fochtman <[email protected]> wrote: >-------------------------------------<snip>------------------------------- ------- > > >>To all trying to follow - I guess I could say make sense of - this subthread >> >>I wonder if it's because I spell colour with a "u" that Rick Fochtman doesn't >>seem to have been able to read my post, accessible immediately as >>the "Previous in Topic" from his post - assuming you haven't messed with the >>date order in the archive, in which case it's "Next in Topic". >> >> >----------------------------------<unsnip>------------------------------- ---------- >Having changed lots of "nappies" on my nieces and nephews and ingested >more than my fair share of >"chips", both with and without fish, and with or without the newspaper >wrapping, I THINK I've learned >to read the Queen's English tolerably well, Chris. > >------------------------------------------<snip>-------------------------- -------------------- > >>So try as he might - whatever configuration options he may have tried - it's >>not in the beast to show any colour other than green. He can only have seen >>green on black - or reverse video, black on green - unless struck over the >>head, I suppose! >> >> >----------------------------------------<unsnip>------------------------- --------------------- >I would really doubt that IBM would allow 200+ mis-labeled terminals out >f the plant, much less delivered >to the same location, yet all the 3278-5 tubes at our shop exhibited the >same characteristics. > >In 40+ years in this business, I've never encountered a mis-labeled >device from IBM, although I did >see a Memorex tube once that was mislabeled with respect to model >number. Memorex apologized >profusely and replaced the offending hardware via overnight shipment. >(The mis-lebeling was identified >by the part number on the internal circuit board. The tube was for >bi-sync and we required start/stop.) > >Rick ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
