We've scrapped that 'bloatware' QT interface for one that most people who remember business computing will appreciate. The new client is called xT3270, and is available on just about any *nix platform (windows requires an emulator).
Here's a screenshot of the new slick xT3270 interface (runnning on linux (unsupported)).
We've also worked closely with teams from IBM and the CA IDMS community to ensure that our new solution runs on the required, and only supported hardware platform, the AS/400. We had to scour the retirement communities to find the required expertise, but it was well worth the several cases of Ensure.
Got Ensure? - Ensure ensured this project's success. I ensureentee it.
I feel that xTuple running on 'Big Iron' will bring a significant number of companies out from behind their cumbersome CICS environments and they get to run new stuff on their old hardware in which they have a sigificant amount of resources invested - it's a no brainer. Combined with the security inherent to running over RS232 (serial port) links makes this one of the most secure xTuple products ever - One serial connection (DB25) per terminal is required, and for those of you who insist in using the public internet to connect to remote locations, a token ring to IP to Serial convertor will be required. You can purchase serial convertors, DB25 EISA/ISA serial port cards in the xChange. USB,xPCI are not available, there's just no demand for such high bandwidth products.
My long and successful history of converting Client/Server based systems (Made2Manage) to mainframe based (Cullinet) has given me the depth and understanding to be confident that this will be a simple change. I've been working on a shell script and some perl script that will convert our stored procedures to be compatible with IDMS. It's not that big a deal. When I presented my idea to fellow co-worker Chris Ryan in several 'talk' Instant Message sessions, I received numerous [shrug]s and [meh]s, which I took as 'This is a really good idea! Go for it!'. When one receives that much enthusiasm to an idea, you just plow ahead. xT3270 is the result of that plowing.
And we've revamped the report writer. The good news here is that you can now blow the dust off that Printronix Line Printer and let the reports rip. You can also use your COBOL, RPG and FOCUS skills! What's old is new again!
Example of making change to ARAging report (in FOCUS). Administrators can use the language of their choice, as long as it's FOCUS, RPG, or COBOL.
FIXFORM X49 PCODE/6 PCLINE/1 RPCODE/6 X13
MATCH ECODE
ON MATCH TYPE ON PCETABLE
"<1 <PCODE <7 <PCLINE <8 <RPCODE <14 <ECODE"
ON NOMATCH REJECT
-*ON MATCH CONTINUE
-*MATCH PCODE PCLINE RPCODE
-*ON MATCH TYPE "DUPLICATE RECORD <TRAN <ECODE <PCODE <PCLINE <RPCODE"
DATA ON ENTW
END
Not one to leave anyone out, we've also ported xT3270 to the iPhone. Yeah, We have an App for that! It offers the same feature rich experience as the full client. To give the iPhone app users a little more prestige, the display colors are reversible!
xT3270 running on the iPhone.
We have also begun to scrap the current incarnation of the www.xtuple.org and xtuple.com websites for something more inline with our whole new user experience. We've started building a BBS based on the ever popular WILDCAT! BBS. We've started the setup of our BBS by bringing in 5 additional analog phone lines. Initially, we'll support 33.6 BPS modems via 5 USRobotics Courier class modems and scale that up as need demands to 56K by 2012. It's pretty exciting stuff. We'll keep the old Orange and Blue motif, as a nod to simpler, less feature rich times.
To augment our xTN offerings we will now be providing remote database over BBS backup to QIC24 tape, called xTQIC.
New xTN services to provide QIC backups.
Configuration Ease! Connection info in a simple text .ini file:
[Connection] IPHostName=3270xtuple TCPPort=23 TimeOut=10 TN3270ESupport=Yes ConnectMethod=Specific ResourceName=T0205D8F SessionType=Display 3270ScreenSize=2 ExtendedAttributes=Yes AutoReconnect=Yes TN3270EResponseSupport=Yes Security=None
Perry Clark
Promoted to Director of Operations in 2018, Perry served for many years as xTuple's senior database engineer, including administration of global, onsite, and internal systems. He specializes in the design, implement and maintenance of database backup infrastructure and methodologies, including backup test and validation, as well as troubleshooting and tuning database performance. Perry is knowledgeable in most aspects of computer networking, security, operating systems, SQL databases and applications and has imagined and implemented methods for metrics reporting relating to all deployed databases. Manufacturing Specialties: Practical knowledge of various manufacturing processes: including CNC, CAD/CAM, metal forming/shaping, machining, welding, deburring, shaping, polishing, and various plastics processing techniques.