RE: Thats all folks!

Scott,

You know the 5250 data stream better then I do, but couldn't someone
besides IBM do this by using hidden fields? Like putting button Exit as
hidden and then text like F3=Exit as normal text. So for a normal data
stream it shows F3=Exit, but on your graphical data stream it makes a
button that has Exit. But it always takes extra work to code for more then
one platform, green screen and graphical. And going through this with Java,
all for graphical interfaces just different OSes, it sure makes me wonder
if it is all worth it.  And IBM might of tired this if more users would of
tried the scroll bars (that no one I talked with liked on 5250).

And if you want all graphical interface seams like you could come up with
something if you really needed it, that included how to draw the screen,
something like the x server on Linux (I have not seen anything on the X
server so not sure how it works).

The Linux user group I go to is big into the Linux Terminal Server
Project  http://www.ltsp.org  Which is sort of like what you are talking
about, the Linux server runs the X server and the clients just displays the
window. The kernel is loaded off of the server. This project used TN5250
because they had to also work with an AS/400 (green screen).
http://www.ltsp.org/longstory.php

And it is not all IBM's fault, sometimes it could because the AS400
community it so slow to adopt new technology or learn anything on their  own.

John Ross


At 03:16 PM 12/17/2002 -0600, you wrote:

 [snip]
What would I do, if I could make the decisions for the iSeries division?

(1) Create a new way of communicating with terminals, instead of the
     5250 data stream, that allows for graphical terminals.

(2) Make it just as easy to develop graphical applications on the
     iSeries as it is to develop green-screen.    Incorporate graphical
     controls into DDS, so existing software can immediately look
     graphical without changing the RPG/COBOL code.

(3) Lose the reliance of Windows for Ops Nav, etc.   Instead, use the
     graphical data stream.   Make a terminal emulator for Windows,
     of course, but also make it availble for Linux/BSD/MacOS, etc.
     Keep the PC side as simple as possible, so that a terminal can
     be used as a complete replacement.

The idea is, you write the software for the iSeries.  You deploy it
to the iSeries.  The only platform required to use it is the iSeries.

Software is very simple to write, because that's what business people
want when they're developing software.  They're not computer geeks like
Unix people, they're businessmen.  They want something easy that will
be modern and stable.

Don't use a web browser as a terminal.  They're unstable.  Every browser
displays things differently.  They are much more complicated to develop
software for than a green-screen.  They're designed for reading hyper text
documentation, not running an application in.   It has been proven time
and time again that client/server is expensive to maintain... this is the
main reason why the TCO of the iSeries is lower.   Web is a client/server
software!

Get the idea?  Keep the paradigms that have always made the iSeries
strong, but UPDATE THEM TO MODERN TIMES.