>what is the basic information i need when trying ot access the mainframe using either of those methods. other than the obvious user name and password...

Your main frame needs to be running some sort of file server process, (Daemon) whatever.

The communication to that mainframe needs to be in the protocal which is running. Common examples are

ftp
rcp
telnet
hvst

not to mention many many more.

So in order to communicate with the main frame, if its on your netowrk.
1 you need to know the protocol(s) being run.
2 the ip address of the server (mainframe) if in fact its running on your network. Some older mainframes just connect serial, and if so, you are really limited to protocals (older ones like) ascii, xmodem, ymodem etc.

That OS that you mentioned that was your mainframe, I don't think is actually an os, but rather a term emul program, What OS is your mainframe running, is it an AS400 ? mpe? unix,? Pick ? Thouroughbread. ? Wang ?

Bob Lee