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Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001IBM 3270 Display System support
2
3This file describes the driver that supports local channel attachment
4of IBM 3270 devices. It consists of three sections:
5 * Introduction
6 * Installation
7 * Operation
8
9
10INTRODUCTION.
11
12This paper describes installing and operating 3270 devices under
13Linux/390. A 3270 device is a block-mode rows-and-columns terminal of
14which I'm sure hundreds of millions were sold by IBM and clonemakers
15twenty and thirty years ago.
16
17You may have 3270s in-house and not know it. If you're using the
18VM-ESA operating system, define a 3270 to your virtual machine by using
19the command "DEF GRAF <hex-address>" This paper presumes you will be
20defining four 3270s with the CP/CMS commands
21
22 DEF GRAF 620
23 DEF GRAF 621
24 DEF GRAF 622
25 DEF GRAF 623
26
27Your network connection from VM-ESA allows you to use x3270, tn3270, or
28another 3270 emulator, started from an xterm window on your PC or
29workstation. With the DEF GRAF command, an application such as xterm,
30and this Linux-390 3270 driver, you have another way of talking to your
31Linux box.
32
33This paper covers installation of the driver and operation of a
34dialed-in x3270.
35
36
37INSTALLATION.
38
39You install the driver by installing a patch, doing a kernel build, and
40running the configuration script (config3270.sh, in this directory).
41
42WARNING: If you are using 3270 console support, you must rerun the
43configuration script every time you change the console's address (perhaps
44by using the condev= parameter in silo's /boot/parmfile). More precisely,
45you should rerun the configuration script every time your set of 3270s,
46including the console 3270, changes subchannel identifier relative to
47one another. ReIPL as soon as possible after running the configuration
48script and the resulting /tmp/mkdev3270.
49
Lucas De Marchi970e2482012-03-30 13:37:16 -070050If you have chosen to make tub3270 a module, you add a line to a
51configuration file under /etc/modprobe.d/. If you are working on a VM
52virtual machine, you can use DEF GRAF to define virtual 3270 devices.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070053
54You may generate both 3270 and 3215 console support, or one or the
55other, or neither. If you generate both, the console type under VM is
56not changed. Use #CP Q TERM to see what the current console type is.
57Use #CP TERM CONMODE 3270 to change it to 3270. If you generate only
583270 console support, then the driver automatically converts your console
59at boot time to a 3270 if it is a 3215.
60
61In brief, these are the steps:
62 1. Install the tub3270 patch
Lucas De Marchi970e2482012-03-30 13:37:16 -070063 2. (If a module) add a line to a file in /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070064 3. (If VM) define devices with DEF GRAF
65 4. Reboot
66 5. Configure
67
68To test that everything works, assuming VM and x3270,
69 1. Bring up an x3270 window.
70 2. Use the DIAL command in that window.
71 3. You should immediately see a Linux login screen.
72
73Here are the installation steps in detail:
74
75 1. The 3270 driver is a part of the official Linux kernel
76 source. Build a tree with the kernel source and any necessary
77 patches. Then do
78 make oldconfig
79 (If you wish to disable 3215 console support, edit
80 .config; change CONFIG_TN3215's value to "n";
81 and rerun "make oldconfig".)
82 make image
83 make modules
84 make modules_install
85
86 2. (Perform this step only if you have configured tub3270 as a
Lucas De Marchi970e2482012-03-30 13:37:16 -070087 module.) Add a line to a file /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf to automatically
88 load the driver when it's needed. With this line added, you will see
89 login prompts appear on your 3270s as soon as boot is complete (or
90 with emulated 3270s, as soon as you dial into your vm guest using the
91 command "DIAL <vmguestname>"). Since the line-mode major number is
92 227, the line to add should be:
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070093 alias char-major-227 tub3270
94
95 3. Define graphic devices to your vm guest machine, if you
96 haven't already. Define them before you reboot (reipl):
97 DEFINE GRAF 620
98 DEFINE GRAF 621
99 DEFINE GRAF 622
100 DEFINE GRAF 623
101
102 4. Reboot. The reboot process scans hardware devices, including
103 3270s, and this enables the tub3270 driver once loaded to respond
104 correctly to the configuration requests of the next step. If
105 you have chosen 3270 console support, your console now behaves
106 as a 3270, not a 3215.
107
108 5. Run the 3270 configuration script config3270. It is
109 distributed in this same directory, Documentation/s390, as
110 config3270.sh. Inspect the output script it produces,
111 /tmp/mkdev3270, and then run that script. This will create the
112 necessary character special device files and make the necessary
Adrian Bunkbf6ee0a2006-10-03 22:17:48 +0200113 changes to /etc/inittab.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700114
115 Then notify /sbin/init that /etc/inittab has changed, by issuing
116 the telinit command with the q operand:
117 cd Documentation/s390
118 sh config3270.sh
119 sh /tmp/mkdev3270
120 telinit q
121
122 This should be sufficient for your first time. If your 3270
123 configuration has changed and you're reusing config3270, you
124 should follow these steps:
125 Change 3270 configuration
126 Reboot
127 Run config3270 and /tmp/mkdev3270
128 Reboot
129
130Here are the testing steps in detail:
131
132 1. Bring up an x3270 window, or use an actual hardware 3278 or
133 3279, or use the 3270 emulator of your choice. You would be
134 running the emulator on your PC or workstation. You would use
135 the command, for example,
136 x3270 vm-esa-domain-name &
137 if you wanted a 3278 Model 4 with 43 rows of 80 columns, the
138 default model number. The driver does not take advantage of
139 extended attributes.
140
141 The screen you should now see contains a VM logo with input
142 lines near the bottom. Use TAB to move to the bottom line,
143 probably labeled "COMMAND ===>".
144
145 2. Use the DIAL command instead of the LOGIN command to connect
146 to one of the virtual 3270s you defined with the DEF GRAF
147 commands:
148 dial my-vm-guest-name
149
150 3. You should immediately see a login prompt from your
151 Linux-390 operating system. If that does not happen, you would
152 see instead the line "DIALED TO my-vm-guest-name 0620".
153
154 To troubleshoot: do these things.
155
156 A. Is the driver loaded? Use the lsmod command (no operands)
157 to find out. Probably it isn't. Try loading it manually, with
158 the command "insmod tub3270". Does that command give error
159 messages? Ha! There's your problem.
160
161 B. Is the /etc/inittab file modified as in installation step 3
162 above? Use the grep command to find out; for instance, issue
163 "grep 3270 /etc/inittab". Nothing found? There's your
164 problem!
165
166 C. Are the device special files created, as in installation
167 step 2 above? Use the ls -l command to find out; for instance,
168 issue "ls -l /dev/3270/tty620". The output should start with the
169 letter "c" meaning character device and should contain "227, 1"
170 just to the left of the device name. No such file? no "c"?
171 Wrong major number? Wrong minor number? There's your
172 problem!
173
174 D. Do you get the message
175 "HCPDIA047E my-vm-guest-name 0620 does not exist"?
176 If so, you must issue the command "DEF GRAF 620" from your VM
177 3215 console and then reboot the system.
178
179
180
181OPERATION.
182
183The driver defines three areas on the 3270 screen: the log area, the
184input area, and the status area.
185
186The log area takes up all but the bottom two lines of the screen. The
187driver writes terminal output to it, starting at the top line and going
188down. When it fills, the status area changes from "Linux Running" to
189"Linux More...". After a scrolling timeout of (default) 5 sec, the
190screen clears and more output is written, from the top down.
191
192The input area extends from the beginning of the second-to-last screen
193line to the start of the status area. You type commands in this area
194and hit ENTER to execute them.
195
196The status area initializes to "Linux Running" to give you a warm
197fuzzy feeling. When the log area fills up and output awaits, it
198changes to "Linux More...". At this time you can do several things or
199nothing. If you do nothing, the screen will clear in (default) 5 sec
200and more output will appear. You may hit ENTER with nothing typed in
201the input area to toggle between "Linux More..." and "Linux Holding",
202which indicates no scrolling will occur. (If you hit ENTER with "Linux
203Running" and nothing typed, the application receives a newline.)
204
205You may change the scrolling timeout value. For example, the following
206command line:
207 echo scrolltime=60 > /proc/tty/driver/tty3270
208changes the scrolling timeout value to 60 sec. Set scrolltime to 0 if
209you wish to prevent scrolling entirely.
210
211Other things you may do when the log area fills up are: hit PA2 to
212clear the log area and write more output to it, or hit CLEAR to clear
213the log area and the input area and write more output to the log area.
214
215Some of the Program Function (PF) and Program Attention (PA) keys are
216preassigned special functions. The ones that are not yield an alarm
217when pressed.
218
219PA1 causes a SIGINT to the currently running application. You may do
220the same thing from the input area, by typing "^C" and hitting ENTER.
221
222PA2 causes the log area to be cleared. If output awaits, it is then
223written to the log area.
224
225PF3 causes an EOF to be received as input by the application. You may
226cause an EOF also by typing "^D" and hitting ENTER.
227
228No PF key is preassigned to cause a job suspension, but you may cause a
229job suspension by typing "^Z" and hitting ENTER. You may wish to
230assign this function to a PF key. To make PF7 cause job suspension,
231execute the command:
232 echo pf7=^z > /proc/tty/driver/tty3270
233
234If the input you type does not end with the two characters "^n", the
235driver appends a newline character and sends it to the tty driver;
236otherwise the driver strips the "^n" and does not append a newline.
237The IBM 3215 driver behaves similarly.
238
239Pf10 causes the most recent command to be retrieved from the tube's
240command stack (default depth 20) and displayed in the input area. You
241may hit PF10 again for the next-most-recent command, and so on. A
242command is entered into the stack only when the input area is not made
243invisible (such as for password entry) and it is not identical to the
244current top entry. PF10 rotates backward through the command stack;
245PF11 rotates forward. You may assign the backward function to any PF
246key (or PA key, for that matter), say, PA3, with the command:
247 echo -e pa3=\\033k > /proc/tty/driver/tty3270
248This assigns the string ESC-k to PA3. Similarly, the string ESC-j
249performs the forward function. (Rationale: In bash with vi-mode line
250editing, ESC-k and ESC-j retrieve backward and forward history.
251Suggestions welcome.)
252
253Is a stack size of twenty commands not to your liking? Change it on
254the fly. To change to saving the last 100 commands, execute the
255command:
256 echo recallsize=100 > /proc/tty/driver/tty3270
257
258Have a command you issue frequently? Assign it to a PF or PA key! Use
259the command
260 echo pf24="mkdir foobar; cd foobar" > /proc/tty/driver/tty3270
261to execute the commands mkdir foobar and cd foobar immediately when you
262hit PF24. Want to see the command line first, before you execute it?
263Use the -n option of the echo command:
264 echo -n pf24="mkdir foo; cd foo" > /proc/tty/driver/tty3270
265
266
267
268Happy testing! I welcome any and all comments about this document, the
269driver, etc etc.
270
271Dick Hitt <rbh00@utsglobal.com>