Twinaxial workstation controller requirements

The local twinaxial workstation controller maps keyboard data received from a workstation into EBCDIC values corresponding to the keyboard ID configured for that workstation on the system.

Multiple languages are supported by using a separate keyboard mapping table to handle each unique combination of national language version and keyboard for each workstation attached to the system.

The amount of storage available within the twinaxial workstation controller for mapping tables is limited and restricts the total number of national language versions that the workstation controller can simultaneously support. Depending on the mix of languages and types of keyboards, the twinaxial workstation controller can support several different national language versions simultaneously (in addition to U.S. English, which is always available).

Keyboard types on the twinaxial workstation controller

The twinaxial workstation controller supports the following types of IBM® keyboards:

The sum of the computational factors for a language and keyboard type must not exceed 22 for the twinaxial workstation controller. The following table shows the computational factor for each language, KBDTYPE parameter, and keyboard type.

Each workstation controller supports a maximum number of languages at the same time, regardless of the keyboard types. This maximum number is in addition to the US English support.

Note: The actual number of keyboards of each type does not have any impact on the sum. For example, the computational factor is 3, whether there are 1 or 30 enhanced keyboards running Austrian/German.

Language and keyboard computational factor table

  1. Identify the language down the first column of the table.
  2. Identify the keyboard type across the row for the selected language.
  3. Record the computational factor listed for each keyboard type.
  4. Repeat the first three steps for all the required keyboard types.
  5. Add the computational factor for all required keyboard types.
    1. If the sum of all computational factors does not exceed 22, then the twinaxial workstation controller can support all the required keyboard types for the languages.
    2. If the sum of the computational factors exceeds 22, then the twinaxial workstation controller might not support all the required keyboard types for the languages.
Language KBDTYPE 5250 typewriter keyboard 5250 data entry keyboard 122-key typewriter keyboard 122-key data entry keyboard Enhanced keyboard
Albanian ALI N/A N/A 1 N/A 3
Arabic CLB 2 N/A 2 N/A 2.5
Austrian / German AGB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Austrian / German MNCS AGI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Belgian Dutch MNCS BLI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Brazilian Portuguese BRB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Bulgarian BGB N/A N/A N/A N/A 3
Canadian French CAB 1 1 1 1 3
Canadian French MNCS CAI 1 1 1 1 3
Croatian YGI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Cyrillic CYB 2 N/A 2 N/A 2.5
Czech CSB N/A N/A N/A N/A 3
Danish DMB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Danish MNCS DMI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Estonia ESB N/A N/A N/A N/A 1.5
Finnish / Swedish FNB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Finnish / Swedish MNCS FNI 1 1 1 N/A 3
French (Azerty) FAB 1 1 1 N/A 3
French (Azerty) MNCS FAI 1 1 1 N/A 3
French (Qwerty) FQB 1 1 N/A N/A N/A
French (Qwerty) MNCS FQI 1 1 N/A N/A N/A
Greek GNB 2 N/A 2 N/A 2.5
Hebrew NCB 2 N/A 2 N/A 2.5
Hungarian HNB N/A N/A 1 N/A 3
Icelandic ICB 1 N/A 1 N/A 3
Icelandic MNCS ICI 1 N/A 1 N/A 3
International INB 1 1 N/A N/A N/A
International MNCS INI 1 1 N/A N/A N/A
Iran (Farsi) IRB N/A N/A 2 N/A 2.5
Italian ITB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Italian MNCS ITI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Japanese - English JEB 1 1 N/A N/A N/A
Japanese - English MNCS JKB 1 1 N/A N/A N/A
Japanese - Kanji and Katakana JKB N/A N/A N/A N/A 2.5
Japanese - Kanji and US English JUB N/A N/A 1 N/A N/A
Japanese Katakana KAB 2 2 2 2 2.5
Japanese Latin Extended JPB 1 1 N/A N/A N/A
Korean KOB 1 1 1 1 1
Latin 2 ROB 1 N/A 1 N/A 1.5
Latvia LVB N/A N/A N/A N/A 2.5
Lithuania LTB N/A N/A N/A N/A 2.5
Macedonian MKB N/A N/A N/A N/A 2.5
Netherlands Dutch NEB 1 1 1 1 3
Netherlands Dutch MNCS NEI 1 1 1 1 3
Norwegian NWB 1 1 1 1 3
Norwegian MNCS NWI 1 1 1 1 3
Polish PLB N/A N/A 1 N/A 3
Portuguese PRB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Portuguese MNCS PRI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Romanian RMB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Russian RUB N/A N/A N/A N/A 3
Serbian (Latin) YGI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Serbian (Cyrillic) SQB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Simplified Chinese RCB 1 1 1 1 N/A
Slovakian SKB N/A N/A 1 N/A 3
Slovenian YGI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Spanish SPB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Spanish MNCS SPI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Spanish Speaking SSB 1 1 1 1 3
Spanish Speaking MNCS SSI 1 1 1 1 3
Swedish SWB 1 1 1 N/A 3
Swedish MNCS SWI 1 1 1 N/A 3
Swiss / French MNCS SFI 1 N/A 1 N/A 3
Swiss / German MNCS SGI 1 N/A 1 N/A 3
Thai THB N/A N/A N/A N/A 2.5
Traditional Chinese TAB 1 1 1 1 1
Turkish (QWERTY) TKB 1 N/A 1 N/A 1.5
Turkish (F) TRB 1 N/A 1 N/A 1.5
United Kingdom English UKB 1 1 1 1 3
United Kingdom English MNCS UKI 1 1 1 1 3
United States / Canada English USB See note.        
United States / Canada MNCS USI 1 1 1 1 3
Note: Information about USB is not included, because it is always available and does not take up any additional space in the workstation controller.