5250 Emulation
From Your Next Level of Support
This page covers various emulation options for the 5250 and TN5250 protocols.
Emulation Boards
Hardware emulation boards natively speak the 5250 wire protocol and will work across every midrange generation that spoke twinax. All hardware twinax cards have their own bespoke emulation software, and cannot be used with another vendor's software. If the software is not available, the card cannot be used so if you have a copy please get in touch with us.
| Manufacturer | Part Number / Model | Interface | Emulation Software | Notes | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | Coax/Twinax | Nubus | None | Hardware onboard supported both 3270 and 5250 but no 5250 software was ever written | 
|
| AST | AST-5251/11 | ISA | unknown | 
| |
| AST | AST-5251/11A | MCA | unknown | 
| |
| BOSanova | 6802 | ISA | BOSanova Plus | 
| |
| BOSanova | 6904 | PCI | BOSanova Plus? | 
| |
| Computer Lab International | 5250EE | ISA | CLI-5250 | 
| |
| Computer Lab International | MPCI-5250 | PCI | CLI-5250? | 
| |
| Connectronix | 7152110 | ISA | unknown | 
| |
| IBM | 6851204 | ISA | IBM Enhanced 5250 Emulation Program (MS-DOS), Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | 
| |
| IBM | 6204913 | ISA | IBM Enhanced 5250 Emulation Program (MS-DOS), Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | 
| |
| IBM | 92G5364 | ISA | IBM Enhanced 5250 Emulation Program (MS-DOS), Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | revised short board version of 6204913; earlier versions of this card feature a metal can ASIC | 
|
| IBM | 69X6292 | MCA | IBM System/36 / 38 Workstation Emulation Program (MS-DOS), Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | 
| |
| IBM | 69X6282 | MCA | IBM System/36 / 38 Workstation Emulation Program (MS-DOS), Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | revised short board version of 69X6292 | 
|
| IBM | 64G3495 | MCA | IBM Enhanced 5250 Emulation Program (MS-DOS), Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | 
| |
| IBM | unknown | PCMCIA | Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | possibly only shipped with the AS/400 Portables | 
|
| IBM | 5250 Express | PCI | Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | 
| |
| IBM | 5250 Express | PCMCIA | Personal Communications (Windows, OS/2) | snow has card, need picture and P/N | (picture) |
| IDEAcomm | unknown | ISA | IDEAcomm 5250 | snow has one in the NEC 386; need to pull from storage and photograph | (picture) |
| Micro Integration | unknown | ISA | unknown | 
| |
| NLynx | ES/PCI | PCI | unknown | picture from Twin Data who also has the emulation software but no drivers | 
|
| NLynx | USB Twinax Kit | USB | unknown | picture from Twin Data | 
|
Software Emulation
This section is targeted at 5250 emulators that speak the TN5250 network protocol. This means these emulators are only compatible with an AS/400 running V3R1 or later. Older versions of OS/400 and SSP may also be usable if connected to a compatible AS/400 with Passthru.
| Developer | Product Name | Compatible OS | - |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dell(?) | unknown | Wyse ThinOS | TN5250 supported in ThinOS based thin clients |
| Ericom | PowerTerm | Windows Desktop, Windows CE | still a current product; PowerTerm CE typically loaded on Affirmative TN5250 terminals |
| IBM | Personal Communications | Windows 3.1 (up to Version 4), Windows 95 - 11, OS/2 | |
| IBM | "TN5250" | OS/2 | don't know if this had an actual name - first included with OS/2 Warp 3 Connect |
| IDEAcomm | IDEAcomm 5250 | Windows 3.1 | still runs on Windows 7 32-bit; only known TN5250 emulator to support GDDM |
| MochaSoft | Mocha TN5250 | MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95 - 11, Windows CE / Windows Mobile (ARM, SH3, MIPS), Psion, Symbian, Palm, Java, Internet Explorer/ActiveX, ChromeOS, Android, Mac OS 8 - 9, Mac OS X, iOS | If an OS exists, MochaSoft has probably ported a version of Mocha TN5250 to it |
| (motorola barcode scanner) | (i forgot) | Windows CE | Typically preloaded on Motorola / Symbol / Zebra barcode scanners |
| Microsoft | SNA Server (now Host Integration Server) | Windows NT, Windows Server | still a current Microsoft product as of 2025 |
| NetManage | Chameleon | Windows 95/NT | |
| tn5250 Project | tn5250 | Linux, BSD, Windows | Open-source TN5250 emulator |
| tn5250j Project | tn5250j | Java Runtime | Open-source Java-based TN5250 emulator |
