Re:What would the purpose of this be? (Score 1)

Don't let the 80 column view of the world be a deterrent. The one thing that mainframes have stressed in the past 30+ years is upward compatibility. Programs that were written that long ago can still run today, essentially unaltered (I know because we do it). Mainframes don't do I/O 80 bytes at a time, as a matter of fact real card reader/punch devices are about as rare today as 5-1/4 inch floppies drives on your PC. It is all about compatibility.