The AGILE 5250 OPTIMA protocol converter enables an AS/400 or an S/3X midrange system to print to industry-standard ASCII and EBCDIC printers, plotters and other output devices. The converter also accepts input from PCs, LAN print servers and other alternate hosts.

The OPTIMA's twinax port supports up to three addresses. Each twinax address is individually configurable to emulate an IBM 3812, 4214, 5219, 5224, 5225 or 5256 printer. The twinax input addresses and the alternate host inputs can be individually configured to print to any or all attached output devices, with appropriate character translation being provided by the OPTIMA.

In addition to its twinax port, the unit provides Centronics parallel and serial input and output connections. As many as four devices can be supported simultaneously (any combination of up to three printers and up to three alternate hosts).

The OPTIMA is easy to configure, maintain and upgrade, because operating information is stored on a PC/MS-DOS compatible 3.5" 1.44MB disk. The unit can be configured either from its front panel or through a DOS-based, menu-driven configuration utility (OPTEDIT). System uniformity is assured, since the OPTIMA can be configured once and the settings then duplicated for additional units.

FEATURES

• Supports up to three twinax sessions, each with automatic address validation and selectable printer emulation on as many as three printers simultaneously
• Emulates IBM 3812 (SCS mode), 4214, 5219, 5224, 5225 and 5256 printers
• Connects with any ASCII/EBCDIC parallel or serial output device
• Allows printer sharing between 3X/400 host and up to three alternate hosts
• 512 user programmable function strings dynamically allocated up to 60K total
• Supports IBM DisplayWrite 36 and Office/400 including multi-column justification, multiple fonts per page, pitch control, page orientation and format
• Easy menu-based configuration with LCD display
• Operational software and configuration data on PC/MS-DOS compatible 1.44MB disk
• Translation tables changeable on line

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

HOST INTERFACE

• IBM AS/400 or System 34/36/38 Twinax input port (AWM 2498) with automatic terminating/cable-through intelligent T connector
• Up to 3 twinax address (session/logical unit) with automatic address validation and conflict avoidance
• Full SCS/DCA FFT data stream support

PRINTER INTERFACE

• 1 dedicated output port
• DB-25 Centronics parallel
• ASCII or EBCDIC

ALTERNATE HOST INTERFACE

• 1 input port
• DB-25 parallel

BIDIRECTIONAL INTERFACE

• 1 DB-9 serial input/output
• 1 DB-25 serial input/output
• 300-19.2K baud throughput when used as an alternate host input port
• 300-115.2K baud when used as a printer output port

PRINTER SHARING

• Printer sharing between twinax host and up to three alternate hosts

HOST SYSTEMS SUPPORTED

• IBM AS/400
• IBM System 34/36/38

PRINTER EMULATIONS

• IBM 3812 (SCS mode), 4214, 5219, 5224, 5225 and 5256 printers

PRINTERS SUPPORTED

• Xerox 2700, 3700, 4010, 4011, 4030, 4045, 4050, 4197, 4213, 4220, 4235, 4700 and other distributed electronic printers
• Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II, IID, IIID, IIISi, 4, 4Si and compatibles
• IBM Lexmark 4019, 4029, 4039 and Optra series printers
• Parallel- or serial-attached ASCII or EBCDIC printers

THROUGHPUT

• In IBM emulation, supports up to 35 logical pages per minute at 100% print density (132 columns by 66 lines)
• In Xerox 275 emulation, supports up to 55 logical pages per minute

USER PROGRAMMABLE FUNCTION STRINGS

• 512 PFSs in a dynamic 60K space

UPGRADEABILITY

• Operating software and configuration data on PC/MS-DOS compatible 3.5" 1.44MB disk

PROGRAMMABILITY

• Menu-driven configuration with LCD display
• PC-based, menu-driven configuration utility

DIAGNOSTICS

• Power-on self test including automatic twinax address verification and conflict avoidance
• EBCDIC HEX dump with complete SCS/DCA command set and parameter
• Configuration parameter printout

CHARACTER TRANSLATION

• Translation tables user-editable

CERTIFICATIONS

• FCC, UL, CSA, VDE

PRODUCT SUPPORT

• Toll-free technical support: 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pacific time
• One year product warranty