Alex, have you considered getting a used terminal controller for your IBM 3290? It looks like an IBM 3174 would work.
According to IBM Publication No. GG24-3061 (Revision -05 is the latest I can find), the IBM 3290 requires a "Downstream Load (DSL) Diskette." This feature in turn requires any of the following feature codes: 1046, 1048, or 1056 (i.e. a second diskette drive or hard disk). Sadly, none of these three feature codes are available on the smallest form factor 3174 models 81R, 82R, 90R, 91R, and 92R. Thus the most likely "best fit" IBM 3174 would be one of the 5xR or 6xR "medium size" models, preferably 6xR since that's the newer one. Some of these models had Ethernet and/or serial ("asynchronous") ports. I found some online evidence that a hobbyist managed to get an IBM 3290 with IBM 3174 connected to and functioning with a Linux-based PC. - - - - - - - - - - Timothy Sipples I.T. Architect Executive Digital Asset & Other Industry Solutions IBM Z & LinuxONE - - - - - - - - - - E-Mail: sipp...@sg.ibm.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN