Using Perle Protocol Converter with ProComm

A few weeks ago, I remember a post where someone was wondering if there was a
way to dial into an AS/400 through a Perle protocol converter using a general
purpose communications package like ProComm.  The poster wanted to know if
there was an alternative to using the Ptalk software that Perle sells for use
with its protocol converters.  I did not have the time to reply then, and did
not see anyone else post an answer.

We use Perle converters for our sales force and others to dial into the
AS/400, and they all use Ptalk, but the original 3i converter was used for
customers to dial in and place their orders.  The software that was used by
the customers was Procomm for DOS.  When I first started using it to fix
problems in the middle of the night, I did not like it.  While it beat a 30
minute drive into the office at 3:00 in the morning to fix a problem in the
end of day processing, it was not very easy to use.  The keyboard layout was
not like any emulation key mapping I had ever used, local or remote.  It had
no field exit key, and some of the other keys were strange, i.e., <Ctrl>-R
for error reset.  But it did work, and we still have a few customers using it
today.

When we needed more dial in lines, and I upgraded to a larger 394e converter,
I purchased Ptalk and we started using it.  However, one of the other
programmers liked Procomm a lot, and did not want to 'clutter up his hard
disk s a dinky rink program' that could not be used for anything else.  So we
converted the original keyboard map to Procomm for Windows.  He is still
using Procomm for dialing in to this day.

The manual that comes with the converter has tables in the back showing what
key sequences the converter is expecting, and also what sequences different
types of emulation standards use.  It is a simple matter to either use an
existing keybiard map associated with a specific type of emulation, or create
your own.  If anyone is interested, I can dig out the keyboard maps we came
up with, and post them.

I still think that Ptalk is better and easier to use, but you should be able
to use any ASCII terminal or a communication program like ProComm to dial
into a Perle protocol converter.  IMHO, you should be able to do the same
with any ASCII to EBCDIC protocol converter no matter who makes it.


TTFN...


John Baker, Field Systems Supervisor
SYSCO Food Services of Los Angeles
voice:  909-595-9595  ext 2555     fax:  909-594-8946
email:  baker.john.r045@sysco.com & jbakerfsa@aol.com - work
        jbakerii@aol.com - personal



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