I keep wondering about all this insistence on emulation etc. There must be something in between the HMC ASCII console (one per LPAR), and total emulation in software (capable of running thousands)
I am thinking of what OSA-ICC does for 3270. Looking like a telnet server to the network and looking like a local tube to the host. A KVM switch mainframe style. How hard can it be to provide an ASCII session type in there? That will provide for several hundreds of console sessions and is utterly independent of host software, config etc. I think it would do nicely for big machines needing salvage and most sites will have no more than a few hundred of those. When it comes to thousands most of them will be appliance type things, where probably no time will be spent on salvaging. They will just be re-cloned, thus no need for a local console. Just a thought.. Best regards, Pieter Harder [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel +31-73-6837133 / +31-6-47272537 >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 29-9-2006 1:09 >>> Alan Altmark wrote: > On Thursday, 09/28/2006 at 08:17 MST, Brandon Darbro > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>You know, linux can use serial ports as a console device... So why >>hasn't IBM come up with a virtual serial port type of console system to >>use instead? Something like having the console on /dev/ttyS0, and that >>via some z/VM magic, is available on an IP as a port number. Telnet to >>the port, and Linux's getty takes it from there. Or better yet, through >>some z/VM magic, the serial ports could be mapped to another Linux >>host's serial ports, say one set up as a console appliance... Then that >>appliance could be configured to allow access to them in a variety of >>ways, whether it be by port numbers, account names, ssh key, whatever. >> >>I've been imagining this for a long time now, and just wondered why IBM >>never did it. > > > IBM *has* been imagining this for a long time, too. The good thing is > that the cold compresses have been effective and the migraines don't occur > as often now as they used to.... > > The problem has to do with block 3270 vs. serial NVT mode. You would > enter the system in line mode and switch to 3270 as usual to get a VM logo > and logon, then, by some miracle TBD, switch back to line mode (emulators > aren't so good at this, btw). > > And then there's the whole ASCII/EBCDIC/ASCII translation thing. You > really want a "passthru mode" LDEV. Unless you're connecting to an EBCDIC > guest, of course. [The light is hurting my eyes now...I have to go lay > down.] Does z/VM support (remote) 2741 terminals or similar? I don't suppose there are many 2741 terminals in captivity, but an emulation shouldn't be hard to do. -- Cheers John -- spambait [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tourist pics http://portgeographe.environmentaldisasters.cds.merseine.nu/ Please do not reply off-list ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
