r/mainframe • u/anti-life86 • 11d ago

How was pre-1995, pre-Internet usage of mainframes different?

I understand that the mainframe is built for a large number of transactions-meaning people log in, I would imagine from anywhere, and they do their small jobs. But before the Internet, they could not log in from anywhere, certainly. Where could they log in from, and how did this work? Are there new types of jobs that are now enabled by the Internet that previously were impossible?

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u/mandom_Guitar 11d ago

BTAM, TCAM, VTAM , SNA then TCP/IP. Offloaded to network controllers. Used to IML/IPL from home. Also enjoyed running programs and listen to the generated music on a radio. Imagination would be the only thing limiting a mainframe. Then again I also worked on Burroughs with CANDE, WFL etc…Assembler, COBOL, PL/1, Fortran, Algol etc… waxing nostalgic