Synchronet v3.19b-Win32 (install) has been released (Jan-2022).

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Table of Contents

Terminal Programs

BBS Compatible Terminal Programs

Stand-alone

Name Windows Linux FreeBSD MacOS Telnet RLogin SSH Serial X/Y/Z1) ANSI2) RIP3) PETSCII4) ATASCII Notes
AbsoluteTelnetYesNoNoNoYesNoYesYesX/Y/Z??????NoNoCommercial
BlockerNoYesNoNoYesNoNoNoZYesNoNoNo
CBMTermYesNoNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoYesNoC64 Terminal for Windows (v3 C# source code)
CGTermYesYesYesYesSortaNoNoNoXNoNoYesNoOpen source, platform independent terminal program for C/G telnet BBSes
dataCometNoNoNoYesYesNoYesYesZ??????NoNoCommercial
Hilgraeve HyperTerminal PE v6 Yes No No No Yes No No Yes X/Y/ZYes?No NoIncluded with Windows XP, ZMODEM uploads broken, v7 no longer free for personal use
IcyTERM Yes Yes ??? Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Open source
Le Putty Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes ZNoNoNo NoFork of putty, uses external rz/sz, possibly build-your-own for *nix
MagiTerm Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes NoNo No
Microsoft telnet.exe Yes No No No Yes No No No No No5) NoNo NoIncluded/available with all Microsoft Windows NT+ OSes. After XP (Vista and later), the ANSI-BBS/CP437 support is horrible. Not recommended for BBS use
mTelnet Yes No No No Yes No NoNo ZYesNoNo NoWin32/OS2 versions. Author, Tom Fotherby is MIA. free/closed source
MuffinTerm No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes Planned New BBS-terminal for Mac, iPad, iPhone
NetRunnerYesYesNoNoYesNoNoNoZYesNoNoNoFrom the developer of Mystic BBS Software
PuTTY Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No NoNoNo NoDefaults to non-CP437 character set
QodemYes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesX/Y/ZYesNoYesYesOpen source Qmodem clone
RIPtelYes No No No Yes No No No Yes YesYesNo NoThe “official” RIPscrip Telnet client from TeleGrafix (circa 1997)
SyncTERM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes X/Y/ZYesNoYesYesFrom the Synchronet developers, free, open source, official releases are here
ZOC Terminal Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes X/Y/ZYesNoNo NoCommercial
ztelnet No Yes Yes ??? Yes No NoNo Z???NoNoNoFree, open source, uses external rz/sz. Appears to be abandoned.

Web-based

Name Telnet RLogin SSH X/Y/ZMODEM RIP Notes
Flashterm Yes No No No No Requires Adobe Flash Player and compatible web browser
fTelnet Yes Yes No YModem-G OnlyPartially More features than Flashterm! Intended to be installed by SysOps on their BBS's website. See the “My fTelnet” entry for user-focused implementation. Requires Adobe Flash Player and compatible web browser
HtmlTerm Yes No No YModem-G OnlyNo Intended to be installed by SysOps on their BBS's website. Requires a compatible web browser (supporting Canvas and WebSockets)
JavaTelnetSSH Yes No Yes No No Poor ANSI-BBS support, Version 1 here
My fTelnet Yes No No YModem-G OnlyNo Web based, free, open source. It's basically HtmlTerm ready to be used by users, unlike the HtmlTerm entry above which is more for SysOps. Requires a compatible web browser (supporting Canvas and WebSockets)

Mobile

Name iOSAndroidTelnet RLogin SSH X/Y/ZMODEM RIP Notes
iSSH YesNoYesNoYesNoNoTelnet/SSH client for Apple iOS
ANSI Terminal NoYesYesNoNoNoNoDecent Telnet client for Andriod. Costs $1.00 USD
MuffinTerm Yes No Yes No No Yes No New ANSI-BBS terminal for macOS, iOS, iPadOS

See Also

1)
X/Y/ZMODEM file transfer protocols support
2)
ANSI-BBS/CP437 terminal support
3)
RIPscrip terminal support
4)
C64/C128 terminal support
5)
older versions of telnet.exe supported ANSI-BBS