IRIC, the 3174 didn't speak the ASCII variant of the 3270 protocol. At least I don't recall a customization option for it.
You're thinking of the Asynchronous Emulation Adapter. One of my 3174s has it. It works quite well in both directions. It will also do ASCII telnet, and a 3279 makes a decent VT100. On Fri, Jun 19, 2026 at 11:25 AM Rick Troth < [email protected]> wrote: > UTS (which you already cite) was ASCII and worked (very!) well with 3270. > But it spoke EBCDIC to the tubes. > > I have vague memory of 3174 CU (we had one of the first) having ASCII > capability. > Dunno if ASCII also required features in the tubes or if 3174 did magic > to "just make it work". > > > On 6/19/26 9:09 AM, Jay Maynard wrote: > > It would require talking with an ASCII-native host, and I doubt any of > them > > ever implemented a 3270 driver. AFAIK, there certainly were no > ASCII-native > > OSes for the 360/370 (plus or minus UTS or AIX/370, which ran under VM > > anyway). > > > > On Fri, Jun 19, 2026 at 7:40 AM Phil Smith III <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> I am astounded. Did a ton of 3270 stuff back in the day and have ZERO > >> memory of it ever mentioning ASCII! > >> > >> Weirdly, it's all over that book--but it never seems to discuss what > they > >> mean about using it. There's ONE index entry, which points to an entry > >> about structured fields, where it says simply: > >> > >> "Note: The use of structured fields requires that the full 8 bits of a > >> byte be used; > >> therefore, WSF is not supported in an ASCII environment." > >> > >> Makes me wonder if anybody ever used that support?! > >> > >> Thanks. > >> > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On > Behalf > >> Of Seymour J Metz > >> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2026 11:06 PM > >> To: [email protected] > >> Subject: Re: Two TSO terminal I/O from Rexx questions > >> > >> My point is that the 3270DS supported ASCII from day one. > >> > >> IBM 3270 > >> Information Display System > >> Data Stream Systems Programmer's Reference > >> > >> also mentions both encodings. > >> > >> -- > >> Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > >> http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > >> עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי > >> נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> ________________________________________ > >> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on > behalf > >> of Phil Smith III <[email protected]> > >> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2026 10:50 PM > >> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > >> Subject: Re: Two TSO terminal I/O from Rexx questions > >> > >> > >> External Message: Use Caution > >> > >> > >> Not sure what your point is. The displayable data in a 3270 data > stream, as > >> sent to a 3270 device, is not ASCII as far as I've ever seen. Of course > a > >> controller might rework it as an emulation thing, but I don't think any > >> 3270s spoke ASCII, did they? > >> > >> On June 18, 2026 10:33:44 PM Seymour J Metz <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >>> "Data, commands, and orders transmitted between the control unit and > the > >>> host system > >>> are in the form of interface codes. Two different codes are used in the > >>> United States: > >>> extended binary-coded decimal interchange code (EBCDIC) and American > >> National > >>> Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). The EBCDIC codes are > >>> also used > >>> in the World Trade countries (ASCII is available only in the U.S.); > refer > >>> to IBM 3270 > >>> Information Display System: Character Set Reference, GA27-2837, for > >> details. " > >>> > >>> -- > >>> Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > >>> http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > >>> עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי > >>> נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> ________________________________________ > >>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on > >> behalf of > >>> Phil Smith III <[email protected]> > >>> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2026 10:03 PM > >>> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > >>> Subject: Re: Two TSO terminal I/O from Rexx questions > >>> > >>> > >>> External Message: Use Caution > >>> > >>> > >>> Ehhhhh...the 3270DS itself still isn't doing ASCII, I don't think. > >>> > >>> On June 18, 2026 9:36:18 PM Seymour J Metz <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> > >>>> That depends on the 3271 model. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > >>>> http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > >>>> עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי > >>>> נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> ________________________________________ > >>>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on > >> behalf of > >>>> Paul Gilmartin <[email protected]> > >>>> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2026 7:53 PM > >>>> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > >>>> Subject: Re: Two TSO terminal I/O from Rexx questions > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> External Message: Use Caution > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> On Thu, 18 Jun 2026 22:30:08 +0000, Seymour J Metz wrote: > >>>> > >>>>> My TSMBIRD was ASCII art on a 3277; is your ILRBIRD fancier? > >>>>> > >>>> ASCII ? 3277? > >>>> It's easier to believe EBCDIC character cell. > >>>> Or do 3277 data streams support ASCII? > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> gil > >>>> > >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > >>>> send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO > IBM-MAIN > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > >>>> send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO > IBM-MAIN > >>> > >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > >>> send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > >>> send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > >> > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > >> send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > >> send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > >> > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > >> send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > >> > > > -- > -- R; <>< > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > -- Jay Maynard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
