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OLD FRIENDS, NEW TECHNOLOGY

Datalight, known for ROM-DOS and WinLight, calls its Thin Client offering ThinSystem. ThinSystem is a software package that includes major components required to connect and operate a thin client system with a remote server. The end users can access and run applications on the remote server without having the burden of containing the application at the client.

I wasn’t giving you a history lesson for nothing. Like the old IBM 3270 systems, thin client runs application programs like browsers and spreadsheets remotely on the server. The client system is responsible for passing keystroke and mouse data back to the server.

On the return stroke, and again just like their 3270 ancestors, thin clients receive raw data and video information that must be translated and passed to the eyes and ears of the user. In the IBM large computer environment, the 3270 protocol was the way data went from terminal to mainframe and vice versa.

For the ThinSystem, the client-side software (Citrix WinFrame or Microsoft Terminal Server Client) must have corresponding Citrix or Microsoft server-side components. My little piece of IBM history didn’t go into what other companies were doing at this time, but we all know that another unknown corporation called Digital was in with the research and college crowds. They are known for the VT series of async terminals that connected to the then Digital VAX line of computers (and eventually to most everything else).

ThinSystem can emulate VT100, 5250, and 3270. 5250 is an IBM midrange protocol used on System32, System34, System36, System38, and AS/400 business computers. The 5250 protocol is still around and normally runs over what’s called twin-ax cabling. The AS/400 is a formidable processing system and is IBM’s premier midrange system.

All of the System3x stuff brings a story to mind. At that time, System36 was one of the most popular lines of small business computers IBM sold. I remember meeting a couple guys who wrote database applications for local businesses that had System36 installations.

In case you’ve never seen a System36, in those days, the smallest one was about the size of a large freezer. You know, the ones that open from the top? Down South, we keep fish in ours.

Anyway, I got to be friends with these bit-heads and one day I asked how they managed to write and debug code for this system since it was normally only found in a business environment. "Well," they said, "Get in the car."

They drove me to their house and, lo and behold, there was a full-blown System36 smack dab in the middle of their living room! My kind of guys!

Anyway, I not only have the Datalight ThinSystem software package, I have a neat Arcom embedded PC to run our ThinSystem on. Again, I’m going to take you through my experiences, beginning with the removal of the shrinkwrap.