Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!uarthur!rpcfod
From: rpcfod@uarthur.UUCP (Robert Patt-Corner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm
Subject: Re: MacTerminal 3.0 (try VersaTerm?)
Summary: Compare MacTerminal and Versaterm
Message-ID: <20@uarthur.UUCP>
Date: 26 Oct 90 20:30:03 GMT
References: <9946@milton.u.washington.edu>
Lines: 26


Per your request for a comparison, we have used both (Macterminal 3.0
and Versaterm with Comm TBX.

Versaterm has a critical feature omitted from Macterminal -- print
passthrough.  There is no practical way to print to an apple printer
with Macterminal, the "select and print selection" method is clumsy
and incredibly ugly.  It is the product's main drawback and could be
a killer if not remedied soon.

Otherwise, MacTerminal is far simpler, which could be a virtue.  It seems
to have, with the aforementioned gross omission, "just the right" set of
features for the 90 per cent of non-programmer users.

Versaterm is somewhat complex and confusing for the user, particularly
the naive user.  It has many more features.

Price ... Macterminal is practically free as a part of LanWorks.  It makes
for a very smooth package.  But considered singly as a program, the two are
about the same price.

I'd recommend MacTerminal for sites that can use the other portions of
LANWorks (you get the LAT tool, worth $300 in itself).  Versaterm or
Mac220Whatever for the one-off purchase or the programmer.

No commercial interests, just a user.