Best RS232 terminal? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Thelanie
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 10:22:28 am
content: Hello EEVblog.I work as technician at the Danish meteorology institute and at my work we use an old program called Procomm Plus for communicating with our devices who use RS232 communication, my boss the other day was asking about if anyone knew a newer more modern program for communicating with RS232 hardware.. And i looked around a little on the internet and it seemed the best fit was Termite, does anyone have any experience with this? Or does anyone know of an amazing RS232 program?I look forward to reading any advice or experiences you guys have had.

author: tunk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 10:31:48 am
content: Maybe putty could be another alternative:https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 10:32:44 am
content: PuTTY is a popular one, pretty basic.Tim

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 10:52:56 am
content: Tera Term is pretty feature-rich, open source, and still in (somewhat) active development.https://ttssh2.osdn.jp/

author: fcb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 11:00:13 am
content: Termite 3.4PuTTy

author: Karel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 11:54:40 am
content: Cutecom!https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cutecom&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 12:15:37 pm
content: Somehow I always gravitate back to Hyperterminal because of it's broad support of protocols, able to open & close a port and simplicity. In comparison Putty is very cumbersome to use and on Linux you can't reconfigure Putty on-the-fly which makes it very tedious to use.

author: Ranayna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 12:29:30 pm
content: This topic reminds me of something that i was looking for some time ago.I generally use putty for all my terminal needs, it has everything that i need and is easy to use.But i have one big issue with it: Nowadays, those USB to RS232 adapters are often the only way of getting COM Ports. But under Windows, those do not always have the same COM port id assigned. In putty i either have to guess, or open device manager to get the actual COM port.Does any of the alternatives listed here show a (refreshable) list of COM ports that are currently present in the system?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 12:36:00 pm
content: Hyperterminal does that too.However I have asked the same question a long time ago and someone came up with a (paid) terminal program which seemed like a good alternative. Just can't find the bookmark right now

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 12:44:15 pm
content: Serial Port Notifier will show a list of available COM ports. Right click on the taskbar icon for the list. It also shows a popup when ports come and go.https://helmpcb.com/software/serial-port-monitor

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 12:45:27 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on February 24, 2020, 12:15:37 pmYou pay(!) for Hyperterminal(!!) ?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 01:17:17 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on February 24, 2020, 12:45:27 pmNo. Still the one from Windowx XP (in a VM nowadays). Although I'm aware there is a paid version as well.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 01:22:01 pm
content: 'Terminal' works well for me...https://sites.google.com/site/terminalbpp/

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 01:26:45 pm
content: What about Realterm?https://realterm.sourceforge.io/Or GTKterm?https://github.com/Jeija/gtkterm

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 02:04:30 pm
content: Hands down the most low level, flexible terminal emulation available. Scans ports, control of DTR/DTE control pis, etc. Originally called Brey termminal.https://sites.google.com/site/terminalbpp/

author: PKTKS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 02:18:52 pm
content: Well..Some folks relate "terminals" to ancient stuff ...(that specially fits folks which like systemd bizarre way of things...)Terminals are indeed the core protocol pathways...Needless to say that rollback way down 80s and early dayswhere terminals were pretty much defined in the core OSlike screen, keyb, lines, tapes.Mincom predates all the above. It dates back mid 90sbut indeed early 90s terminals for core protocol handlinghttps://salsa.debian.org/minicom-team/minicomIt just evolved as a complete solution to whateverprotocol you may need by ncurses and any external applet.Activelly maitanined.No crappy UI to mess your lifeCan run standalone even from a REAL INIT system VNo useless stuff aroundStill "THE" complete set of optionsThat includes from MODEM setup to KERMIT likeCan not think of a more robust and tested applet.Putty is kinda juvenile compared to MinicomPaul

author: cs.dk
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 02:20:06 pm
content: I likeMobaXterm. It does it all, FTP, RS232, SSH, Telnet, you name it. And it does list active COM-ports.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 03:27:17 pm
content: I've been sticking with Hterm (http://www.der-hammer.info/pages/terminal.html) for the last several years. I've tried pretty much all of the others mentioned in this thread and it has be best balance of features and stability IME. It will occasionally crash if I send it too much data too quickly (like flat out at 3Mbd for ten seconds), but i just noticed I wasn't on the latest version, so maybe that's fixed now.

author: maginnovision
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 05:04:25 pm
content: I typically write my own programs. One advantage of this is you can scan ports and "auto" identify ports and equipment, assuming the equipment in question has a way to identify itself. When I don't use my own programs it's either putty or realterm.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 05:34:25 pm
content: Another one: YAThttps://sourceforge.net/projects/y-a-terminal/

author: tmadness
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 06:28:56 pm
content: I personally use Coolterm. Its pretty nice in its UI and offers pretty much every basic feature. Its stable and free. Plus no installation needed its a runnable bin.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 07:59:46 pm
content: Quote from: maginnovision on February 24, 2020, 05:04:25 pmJudging by the number of entries proposed in this thread, that's what everybody else seems to be doing.I am truly surprised by the number of different terminal programs still in active use, and most of them still (more or less) actively maintained.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 08:15:59 pm
content: 1.Termite, by far the best to my needs.2. Also,SerialPlotfor live charts:https://hackaday.io/project/5334-serialplot-realtime-plotting-software

author: peter-h
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 09:41:48 pm
content: Teraterm is great.For USB to serial, kksystems.com do FTDI based isolated RS232-USB and RS4xx-USB converters which are not "chinese priced" but work very well. Teraterm connects to he virtual serial port created by the driver.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 09:47:53 pm
content: PuTTY is nice in many respects and is the one I use, primarily because it is so simple. But it has several annoying quirks, such as not being able to handle the cable being disconnected well (you need to restart the entire application.) Nor can you change settings easily on the fly.My wish would be for an app like PuTTY which has the simple design but with more consideration for serial ports/COM ports. TeraTerm is too far in the other direction unfortunately.

author: maginnovision
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2020, 11:30:47 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on February 24, 2020, 07:59:46 pmWell I have written a general purpose terminal program(back when I wrote PBX management software), but I typically do more specific programs now. There are a LOT of terminal programs though, if you trawled through github I bet you could find a lot more. At this point you can download a bunch of them, try them out, and keep what you like.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2020, 10:12:15 am
content: Teraterm is good and I have been using it for 20 years, but it seriously lacks one thing... it does not display serial data in hexadecimal and does not display non-printable characters. Except for ASCII printable characters, it is pretty useless for low level debugging.There are better programs around. I like Bray's Terminal. I think it is better than Termite, and much better than Teraterm for RS-232 serial work. You can program some macros in and name the macro buttons. But most of all it is easy to use and you can see the non-printable hex characters as well.https://sites.google.com/site/terminalbpp/

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 25, 2020, 11:02:16 am
content: I had the same problem back in '88, and ended up creating my own Trace.exeWe only had DOS back then, so no fancy interface, but many features, not even found today - they may / may not be useful. eg Time stamping Rxd-Txd to uS, breaking into a serial line and setting up "packet watch" and or "auto replace" strings etc etcI'll attach the program, it may be of use. Detailed functions are described in the Trace.TXT file. Ignore license / pricing stuff, it paid for itself many times over :-) I still have the dev system (not used it in near 20yrs, but could change things if needed). Actually, I still use the program occasionally.

author: olkipukki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2020, 12:00:52 pm
content: I'm usingSecureCRTas all-around remote connectivity clienthttps://www.vandyke.com/products/index.html

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2020, 12:37:16 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on February 25, 2020, 10:12:15 amPress Shift-ESC (repeatedly if needed) to toggle TeraTerm between regular mode, debug display, hex display, and entirely muted display.

author: PKTKS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2020, 02:11:50 pm
content: Compiled alpha-sortedCooltermhttps://freeware.the-meiers.org/Cutecomhttp://cutecom.sourceforge.net/GTKtermhttps://github.com/Jeija/gtktermHTermhttp://www.der-hammer.info/pages/terminal.htmlHypertermAhttp://www.hilgraeve.com/htpe/download.htmlHypertermBhttp://www.hyperserialport.com/Minicomhttps://salsa.debian.org/minicom-team/minicomMobaXtermhttps://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/PuttyAhttps://www.putty.org/PuttyBhttps://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.htmlRealtermhttps://realterm.sourceforge.io/SecureCRThttps://www.vandyke.com/products/index.htmlSerialPlothttps://hackaday.io/project/5334-serialplot-realtime-plotting-softwareSerialPortMonhttps://helmpcb.com/software/serial-port-monitorTelixAhttps://archive.org/details/TelixCommunications_1020TelixBhttps://vetusware.com/download/Telix%20Communications%203.22/?id=3319TelixChttps://vetusware.com/download/Telix%204.25/?id=43Terminatehttps://vetusware.com/manufacturer/SerWiz%20Comm/?author=5828TeraTermAhttps://ttssh2.osdn.jp/TeraTermBhttp://www.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.htmlTerminalhttps://sites.google.com/site/terminalbpp/Termitehttps://www.compuphase.com/software_termite.htmYAThttps://sourceforge.net/projects/y-a-terminal/Paul

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2020, 02:54:25 pm
content: Great list! It should become a sticky somewhere!SecureCRT looks very promising to me.

author: Thelanie
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 27, 2020, 08:38:33 am
content: Wow im astounded by all the replies, thanks for sharing your ideas/experience with me, i will deffinitely check out some of the programs you have suggested, Putty i already use for my Raspberry pi and such but it is not the solution we are looking for work, but i will try the other programs suggested, thanks a lot!

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2020, 06:08:12 pm
content: I still use Telix either under DOS or as a virtualized DOS program.

author: jesuscf
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2020, 07:43:44 pm
content: PuTTY. I like starting it from the command prompt or using a batch file, for example:D:\>putty -serial COM3 -sercfg 115200,8,n,1,N -vTo check what ports are available from the command prompt:D:\>reg query HKLM\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SERIALCOMM

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 11:18:36 am
content: Also worth mentioning ExtraPuTTY. It's a fork of PuTTY that adds a bunch of extra features.http://www.extraputty.com/Although, it does lag behind the main PuTTY code in terms of updates, so I would be hesitant to use it in any security-conscious scenario (e.g. remote SSH).

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 02:30:20 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on February 24, 2020, 07:59:46 pmThey are 'Actively Maintained' because there is a proliferous amount of 'old' hardware that stillrequires this/such 'old' interfaces, that literally still dominate the real world market!!!New technology is one thing, but the VAST amount of 'old' technology hardware still in use now,and for many years to come, means it will never die out any time soon!!I'm sure that over 80% of people here, have 'never' used an old 'RS232' interface. (Old PC's/Laptops).All they know are USB converters, if anything. That isn't to put them down!!While the EQUIPMENT is still there, one needs to know how to talk to it. An old $20 laptop will do it!!

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 03:00:00 pm
content: Best RS232 terminal?VT100 of course!I'll get my coat...

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 09:31:28 pm
content: Quote from: GlennSpriggPPPFFTTT $20 ... You younguns with your fancy equipment ! ooooo look at me, I can carry my 'puter with me .. I dun't need the ute ... :-)

author: ferdieCX
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 09:44:53 pm
content: Quote from: Cerebus on February 29, 2020, 03:00:00 pmA VT100 connected to a host running RT-11, so many memories

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 29, 2020, 09:50:13 pm
content: Ah, happy days!The VT52 was nice too. It had that cute little solenoid under the keyboard plate to give mechanical feedback on the keys (teletype style).... but yes, the VT100 still seems like an old friend and a design classic.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2020, 09:28:42 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on February 26, 2020, 02:54:25 pmI finally got time to try it but it appears the makers made te mistake to build it for very specific Linux versions. They should have included the libraries the software relies on with the binaries so it will run on any Linux distribution. Looks like Hyperterminal survives for another round...

author: zega
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 29, 2025, 03:12:12 pm
content: Quote from: retrolefty on February 24, 2020, 02:04:30 pmDoes terminal by Br@y works for you?, after few windows updates now looks like it connects but i got no coimms going trough...typing into void style...Just tried fresh install on win11, nope...