Re: Looking for the perfect 5250 client...

["Dare @ Work" <oludare@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Be careful with  compatibility as Windows is concern.  Some of these
emulator cease to support new Windows OSes.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Bale" <dbale@samsa.com>
To: <midrange-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2002 10:59 AM
Subject: Looking for the perfect 5250 client...


> O.k., this is it.  I am looking for the "perfect" 5250 emulator client.
In
> short, I can say that the good features of Client Access (v3r2 is what I
> currently use) make it an ideal client for me.  But CA carries a lot of
> baggage, and sometimes I am forced to use other 5250 clients because of
> limitations.  The one that I am currently forced to use as some clients'
> AS/400s don't have CA installed, is a dud called ViewNow currently
marketed
> by NetManage (more on that below).
>
> The good that keeps me coming back to CA:
> Primarily, when using the green screen, I don't even know the mouse
exists;
> I am definitely a keyboardist in this mode.  I also use a *lot* of MS
> Word-type of copying/pasting and cursor navigating in the course of my
daily
> work:
> - Ctrl-C: Copy selected text into clipboard
> - Ctrl-V: Paste clipboard
> - Shift-Cursor: Select text in the direction of the cursor key being used.
>
> When editing source, I colorize comments quite a bit.  I need an easy way
to
> do this.  CA has a macro function available for this that I assign to a
> popup keypad and to a few keyboard key combinations.  I will *not* succumb
> to copying attributes from a "color" source member set up for this
purpose.
>
> The 27x132 mode is very readable.  I do all my editing in this mode.
>
> Frankly, I don't think these features would be all that difficult to
> achieve.  However, my (admittedly limited) experience with other vendors'
> 5250 clients has left me unfulfilled.  I have yet to find one that will
let
> me do the customization I described above.  (If any of you know of one,
> please let me know!)  The aforementioned ViewNow is a piece of cr*p, you
> need a support contract to report bugs (!!!), and, anyways, NetManage
isn't
> enhancing or fixing it anymore (but they'll be glad to sell you Rumba).
Woe
> be to you if you type a non-numeric in a numeric-only field, or try to
type
> past the end of a mandatory field-exit field with this client; the Reset
key
> doesn't fix it, and we (finally) discovered that you have to SysReq and
> return to get the keyboard to unlock.  Bleaahhh.
>
> The other "new" thing I've encounted is connecting to remote AS/400s thru
> VPN.  I discussed this in a previous thread.  The IP address points to our
> server, and then a pre-defined port on that server "VPNs" to the remote
> AS/400.  CA v3r2 does not seem to support this.  ViewNow does.  Do other
> clients support this?
>
> I am wondering if the open-source 5250 client I've seen discussed here
would
> allow me to do the customization I require "out-of-the-box".  I would be
> willing to develop something for it, if it is possible, and is within my
> skillset.
>
> Comments would be most certainly appreciated.
>
> - Dan Bale
> (I am *NOT* "Dale"
> http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l/200105/msg00281.html )
> SAMSA, Inc.
> 989-790-0507
> DBale@SAMSA.com
>   Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
>   (Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)
>
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