deskthority

Muirium wrote: Makes sense. I reckoned the solenoid was there to "confirm" the keystroke with the host.

I have had a read through of the manual for the IBM terminals of the time ( i had nothing better to do that day in work )and it does imply that this is the case as if there is a problem on the mainframe and its not taking input the solenoid does not fire even if its turned on .

I don't think it could have been waiting for the actual host because, as I understand it, the 3270 protocol wasn't realtime like a VT100 is, but more like today's web forms: the host sent a page to the terminal with fields to fill, the user filled the page, and the user input was returned to the host in one package.

But of course there must have been some intelligence in the terminal that handled this buffering and maybe also worked the solenoid.

@Tom: I didn't get it yet, but I'm not worried yet.

@monster-toys: we want new pics!

A levels boosted version of Halvar's picture of his A02. For no immediately apparent reason…
I'm using it in the DTA nomination for these keyboards, and need a URL!