Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!purdue!i.cc.purdue.edu!j.cc.purdue.edu!ajq
From: ajq@j.cc.purdue.edu (John O'Malley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Dreaming of the perfect terminal software
Message-ID: <6970@j.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 27 Apr 88 16:32:09 GMT
References: <4803@cup.portal.com> <1135@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU>
Reply-To: ajq@j.cc.purdue.edu.UUCP (John O'Malley)
Organization: Personal Computing Learning Resource Center, Purdue University
Lines: 51

Mike G Newman writes:
>... dedicated or transparent print in which printer traffic sent by the host 
>will not appear on the screen but will be routed directly to the printer.
 
Gray Watson writes:
>... FLAWLESS vt-100 emulation
>... an incredible character set 
>... macros, neat Red Ryder features
>... MacKermit file transfers, etc.

Discussion starter:

WHEN, oh WHEN will some clever software engineers come up with a COMPLETE
(no kidding, I mean ALL-INCLUSIVE) terminal emulation program?

My dream terminal software will have 
  - flawless VT100 emulation (my testing shows that MacTerminal is strong,
    Gray Watson says that Terminal DA 1.5 is excellent)
  - flawless emulation of the other popular term types
  - MultiFinder background XMODEM, YMODEM, long-packet Kermit, MacBinary,
    and other transfer protocols, also ability to be Kermit server (like
    MacKermit can do)
  - macros and scripting (Red Ryder is strong in this department)
  - selected screen dumping to printer or disk (Red Ryder)
  - a working VI mouse (point to where you want the cursor and click)
  - a complete character set, including bold, double-size, underline, 80
    or 132 column, international characters (again, MacTerminal is pretty
    good)
  - ability to define keys (MacKermit feature)
  - (What else should be listed here?)

I'm most familiar with Red Ryder, MacKermit, and MacTerminal (can you tell?
:-) ).  I've looked into VersaTerm and Microphone.  But while each of these
have strong features, they're always lacking in something else.  So, like
some of you have to do, I have to switch programs every so often depending
on what I need to do.

I guess what I'd like to see is a terminal program that is what Excel is
to spreadsheets, what ReadySetGo and PageMaker are to desktop publishing,
what Reflex Plus and 4th Dimension are to databases.  A program this good 
could easily fit into the class of software that they sell for $195-$495.

A friend of mine thinks that, compared to MS-DOS term programs, the Mac
is "way behind."  I'm not overly familiar with such software, but I'm 
inclined to agree.

Hello, Microsoft?  Claris?  Apple?


John O'Malley      \  Personal Computing       \  Purdue University \ (317)
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