How to go on without hyperterminal : ( - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: TopherTheME
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 04:04:50 am
content: So I'm running W7 and as I'm sure many of you know, MS ditched hyperterminal after Vista. This leaves a bit of a void in my life as it can be difficult to communicate with micro's from my PC. Normally I would just use Matlab for communication as Mathworks makes it rather painless but it can be a pain in the ass to work with sometimes. And every time something goes wrong or I want to re-establish communication, I have to restart Matlab. In Excel 2003, I have used the MSComm1 command and the VB.NET API to communicate through serial ports. Well, now I have Excel 2007 and 2010 and I can't find a dam thing about how to communicate to COM ports with them. Does anyone have a clue? I've seen some stuff out there using Active X for communication but it involves dealing with the registry and looks way to dam confusing.

author: rossmoffett
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 04:13:02 am
content: That's weird.. a client of mine said the same thing but I found it in the accessories menu on his Windows 7 PC.Maybe you should stop using your PC to communicate by serial. You can purchase a handheld terminal emulator that's instant on and has a decent keyboard for the size.. I don't have one but I saw one in the field last week and I want it.

author: TopherTheME
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 04:27:35 am
content: I could, but I still would like to communicate using Excel though. A lot of my school projects involve data logging which you can't really do with a hand held unit.

author: TopherTheME
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 04:28:03 am
content: Quote from: TopherTheME on November 05, 2010, 04:27:35 amHow did your colleague get hyperterminal?

author: Jon Chandler
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 04:32:56 am
content: I useMTTTY, downloaded from here.It's pretty flexible and works well for me.

author: joelby
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 06:37:10 am
content: Good riddance - Hyperterminal is awful!I usePuTTY, which is free and supports SSH, Telnet, and serial.

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 10:30:04 am
content: Quote from: TopherTheME on November 05, 2010, 04:28:03 amTry this if you really need Hyperterminalhttp://digitizor.com/2009/08/29/how-to-install-the-winxp-hyperterminal-client-on-windows-vista-or-windows-7-free/

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 10:57:28 am
content: a reason for me to stick to winxp. i missed true DOS command line, in xp its only the emulation left

author: safarir
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 11:21:38 am
content: Quote from: joelby on November 05, 2010, 06:37:10 am+1I am using putty for more than 10 years now

author: logictom
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 12:45:53 pm
content: Quote from: safarir on November 05, 2010, 11:21:38 amAnother +1 for putty.Or if you want hyperterminal check out here:http://digitizor.com/2009/08/29/how-to-install-the-winxp-hyperterminal-client-on-windows-vista-or-windows-7-free/it tells you how to copy it from another PC and it has a ZIP with the necessary files in that you can just extract to the desktop and off you go.

author: the_raptor
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 02:30:00 pm
content: You can also get legit ($$$) Hyperterminal for Vista/Win7.Why you would want to is beyond me though.

author: 8086
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 02:33:21 pm
content: I usehttp://www.virtualserialport.com/products/serial-port-terminal/It costs but it's very good.A good free alternative ishttp://realterm.sourceforge.net/

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 02:40:51 pm
content: Quote from: 8086 on November 05, 2010, 02:33:21 pmWhat I use by default, I use the "binary sync char" thing a lot.

author: migsantiago
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 02:47:08 pm
content: Hey guys, do NOT use this guide:http://digitizor.com/2009/08/29/how-to-install-the-winxp-hyperterminal-client-on-windows-vista-or-windows-7-free/By copying the WinXP files to Win7 you can actually use the hyperterminal... but it has GLITCHES. I was working on a TCP socket connection and it failed a lot.I had to move to the demo private edition of the Hyperterminal. After that I had to use PUTTY.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 05, 2010, 03:00:33 pm
content: I just use minicom...

author: gonnafail
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2010, 12:33:32 am
content: I also use Matlab for serial communications in Windows 7. It was funny to see that you also have to close and restart anytime something crashes to re-establish a connection. I assumed there was something I was doing wrong or not clearing to be able to make it work but never took the time to figure out what the problem was. Glad to see I am not alone. When I wanted to use Hyperterminal I used "Windows XP mode" for windows 7. Its a free download from Microsoft and creates a virtual Windows XP installation that you can use to run all sorts of things. I have heard good things of PUTTY but have not tried it out myself.

author: Time
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2010, 12:56:34 am
content: i love matlab. that program never ceases to amaze me with its endless amount of usefulness.

author: sonicj
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2010, 03:49:15 am
content: for mac i use terminal, screen,coolterm(<==nice!)for linux i use minicom & putty

author: philbx1
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2010, 06:04:31 am
content: I've been using Bray's Terminal for a while now.Not sure about use with Win 7 but it doesn't require an install, just put it wherever and it runs.Also includes macros, (limited) scripting, server mode and even graphic output for the signal.https://sites.google.com/site/terminalbpp/

author: nyo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2010, 09:48:21 pm
content: I'm a putty user as well, mostly for ssh to my linux box but also very reliable for serial com to uC

author: kek
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2010, 08:23:16 am
content: I use windows on a laptop that has no serial port. When I want to use a serial port to talk to one of my projects I ssh (putty) into my linux box (old Pentium3), then use minicom to talk out the serial port. I'm very happy with this setup - very responsive.

author: scrat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2010, 01:20:54 pm
content: Quote from: Time on November 06, 2010, 12:56:34 amIt's off topic, but I agree. I consider it as an Engineer Operating System

author: scrat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2010, 01:22:49 pm
content: Quote from: scrat on November 08, 2010, 01:20:54 pmPS: Pay attention, Matlab may cause addiction.

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 08, 2010, 01:37:28 pm
content: Funny enough I never touch matlab, somehow I just don't like it.

author: scrat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2010, 02:27:36 pm
content: Quote from: Hypernova on November 08, 2010, 01:37:28 pmI used to have the same feeling about it, before starting (because I had to) to use it. I thought I could do the same things by programming in C, using Mathematica and so on. Now, sometimes I use it instad of the calculatorOf course, anyone chooses his preferred tools, but I think it's a pity not to know it.

author: Polossatik
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2010, 04:30:39 pm
content: I never used Hyperterminal , really dislike the program.Currently using Putty.It just works ™and it's cross platform

author: TopherTheME
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2010, 11:42:41 pm
content: I'll check out putty when I get the time. As of right now I'm kind of tic'ed off about MS getting rid of the API for serial communication in Excel. While I can do everything with matlab, sometimes having a big spreadsheet is just nicer to have. Apparently you can in fact still do it with Active X but every time I tried to use Active X stuff it ends up in disaster.

author: Frenchie
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2010, 10:40:17 am
content: Another vote for putty on Windows, and Minicom on Linux - even when I had hyperterminal I avoided it in favour of Putty (well to be fair, I avoid doing serial under windows as much as possible).

author: technovm
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 22, 2010, 12:27:53 pm
content: You can use Simple Terminal, it does not require any installation and works on win 7 64bithttp://www.mcselec.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=156&Itemid=54

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2010, 04:51:04 pm
content: Quote from: Hypernova on November 08, 2010, 01:37:28 pmI just started using Matlab this semester and I keep getting confused by it. Probably because I'm so used to Java and now C++ programming.I know someone who uses Python as a calculator...

author: dengorius
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2010, 06:37:45 pm
content: another PuTTY fan, but I also used RealTerm (http://realterm.sourceforge.net/) which is a bit more fancy

author: scrat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2010, 11:22:39 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on November 22, 2010, 04:51:04 pmI think you can't compare Java or C++ (and Python, but I don't know much of it) with Matlab, they are intended for completely different uses. For example, Matlab is now written in Java, and it can run code written in C/C++. It is a complete platform, where language is a part of the whole thing.The most important difference between Matlab and a programming language or a compiler is that, although you can use it to build a standalone application, it is more intended to make application "prototyping" or engineering tools, which don't have to be bullet proof, but have to do the job, be easily customizable and require little time for developing.