S/3 Emulators
An IBM
System/3 model 10 emulator was written by Charles 'Dutch' Owen for SIMH in 2001
with some assistance from me.
Quoting Dutch: "...we were working on the sim (me writing, he testing and telling me where I screwed up)."
This emulator has support for:
Warning: this version is written to run with the SIMH version included in the tar file.
Tip: when running the emulator you really need this IBM S/3 HALT guide and this OCL reference card.
In 2005 I started to write a model 15B emulator (with 3340 disk drives) and used Dutch's source code as starting point.
My plan was to write a model 15A with 5444 drives, but I didn't had a 5444 based model 15 System Control Program.
I did have a 3340 version of the SCP, so I started with that.
.
The 3277-1 operator console emulation is not perfect and needs a specialist who is familiar with COLOR ANSI on Linux.
Here are some screen shots:
(15A
emulator)
With a running model 15B emulator (with 3340 drives) I was able to re-create an 5444 version of the SCP. Unfortunately
all the 5444 specific software modules where missing (IOS driver: de12, 5444 initializer: init2, 5444 IPL record: sgipl etc).
Luckily I have the source code of all these modules on microfiche, so after typing in 2000+ lines of assembler source code,
assembling and linking it all, I was able to re-create these modules.
As already said the weak point of the model 15 emulator is the ANSI 3277-1 emulation. It is not possible to connect the well
known tn3270 to the emulator. The SCP does not generate 3270 BSC data stream to communicate with the 3277-1 console.
The screen data is transfered directly from storage via an internal channel to the adapter and then via coax to the 3277-1.
Then I got the idea to develop an async to IBM coax converter and connect a real IBM 3277-1 to the emulator.
Linux/S3emulator COM port <===/ RS232 /===> Converter <===/ Coax /===> Real IBM 3277-1
There are some pictures of the result:
Pic 1.
Pic 2.
Pic 1: the left PCB is an Atmel ATNGW100 running Linux and the System/3 emulator. The right PCB is the async to coax converter.
Pic 2: The converter is build with an ATMEL Atmega processor and 11 bit serial & deserial logic in an ALTERA fpga.
Here are some screen shots of the result:
YouTube demo movie.
The response is quite good and no difference with a real system. (except less power consumption, space and noise)
Detailed specification of the IBM-ANR protocol can be found here.
Currently I am working on a connection between a real System/3 operator panel and the emulator.
The hardware is finished and the software (modified SIMH S/3 emulator) is about 90% done.
Here are some pictures. The black box behind the panel is a 19" Industrial PC, the first type IBM made.
Two PCB's, as shown in the next picture, are needed to interface between the panel and the PC.
.
The interaction between the operator and the panel is besides error conditions and single machine / clock
cycles operations identical with the reel panel. Extra effort was needed to make the panel lights flicker
as on the original panel.
A modified IBM Composer Selectric connected via a RS232 connection is used to replace the IBM 5471.
Currently I have CCP running on this system. I am now working on a 3277-2 converter to connect a reel
IBM 3277-2 terminal with CCP running in the emulator.
See also my 5496 project.
Quoting Dutch: "...we were working on the sim (me writing, he testing and telling me where I screwed up)."
This emulator has support for:
- IBM 5410 CPU and 64 kbyte storage.
- IBM 5741 Printer Keyboard.
- IBM 5444 Disk Drive (two)
- IBM 1442 card reader (80 column)
- IBM 1403 line printer support.
- IBM 5424 MFCU (96 column)
- IBM 3411 Tape Unit
- IBM 3741 Diskette Station (under construction !)
- and solved some minor bugs.
Warning: this version is written to run with the SIMH version included in the tar file.
Tip: when running the emulator you really need this IBM S/3 HALT guide and this OCL reference card.
In 2005 I started to write a model 15B emulator (with 3340 disk drives) and used Dutch's source code as starting point.
My plan was to write a model 15A with 5444 drives, but I didn't had a 5444 based model 15 System Control Program.
I did have a 3340 version of the SCP, so I started with that.
.
The 3277-1 operator console emulation is not perfect and needs a specialist who is familiar with COLOR ANSI on Linux.
Here are some screen shots:
(15A
emulator)With a running model 15B emulator (with 3340 drives) I was able to re-create an 5444 version of the SCP. Unfortunately
all the 5444 specific software modules where missing (IOS driver: de12, 5444 initializer: init2, 5444 IPL record: sgipl etc).
Luckily I have the source code of all these modules on microfiche, so after typing in 2000+ lines of assembler source code,
assembling and linking it all, I was able to re-create these modules.
As already said the weak point of the model 15 emulator is the ANSI 3277-1 emulation. It is not possible to connect the well
known tn3270 to the emulator. The SCP does not generate 3270 BSC data stream to communicate with the 3277-1 console.
The screen data is transfered directly from storage via an internal channel to the adapter and then via coax to the 3277-1.
Then I got the idea to develop an async to IBM coax converter and connect a real IBM 3277-1 to the emulator.
Linux/S3emulator COM port <===/ RS232 /===> Converter <===/ Coax /===> Real IBM 3277-1
There are some pictures of the result:
Pic 1.
Pic 2.
Pic 1: the left PCB is an Atmel ATNGW100 running Linux and the System/3 emulator. The right PCB is the async to coax converter.
Pic 2: The converter is build with an ATMEL Atmega processor and 11 bit serial & deserial logic in an ALTERA fpga.
Here are some screen shots of the result:
YouTube demo movie.The response is quite good and no difference with a real system. (except less power consumption, space and noise)
Detailed specification of the IBM-ANR protocol can be found here.
Currently I am working on a connection between a real System/3 operator panel and the emulator.
The hardware is finished and the software (modified SIMH S/3 emulator) is about 90% done.
Here are some pictures. The black box behind the panel is a 19" Industrial PC, the first type IBM made.
Two PCB's, as shown in the next picture, are needed to interface between the panel and the PC.
.
The interaction between the operator and the panel is besides error conditions and single machine / clock
cycles operations identical with the reel panel. Extra effort was needed to make the panel lights flicker
as on the original panel.
A modified IBM Composer Selectric connected via a RS232 connection is used to replace the IBM 5471.
Currently I have CCP running on this system. I am now working on a 3277-2 converter to connect a reel
IBM 3277-2 terminal with CCP running in the emulator.
See also my 5496 project.