I don't know if this merits mailing list distribution, but while I have
heard NS-VT since I have been using HP3K, until I had to evaluate
emulators, I have not needed to care. At my last site, we were just
connected with Reflection's VT-MGR settings. I could use some
clarification. BTW, should I be searching an archive for some of these
issues?

>----------
>From:  Jeff Kell[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent:  Wednesday, October 23, 1996 8:53 PM
>To:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject:       Re: Emulators
>
>A quick synopsis of my opinions of those I've tried:
>* the old HP AdvanceLink (?) and Unison's followup Business Session
>  appear to have fallen into the "stale" category, at least HP's
>  product which I believe Unison picked up.  If it is still being
>  actively enhanced (Session) I retract that comment, but I've not
>  seen/heard much from them on this product lately.
>* Minisoft is the "economy" emulator which started with rudimentary file
>  transfer and scripting, but is getting more robust.  If you just want
>  a basic HP terminal emulator, it does the trick.  Last one I tried was
>  an early Windows version and it had some GUI/font problems, but I've
>  heard current versions are more mature.  Not sure of their Win95/NT
>  status.
>* Reflection is the "Microsoft" version of an HP emulator.  Started out
>  basic, gets fatter with every release.  Rich scripting language which
>  was recently replaced[augmented] by a Visual Basic type scripting
>  language which can talk to VB and other Windows apps.  Supports DDE
>and
>  other frills.  Exhaustive help, online manuals.  Very expensive.
>
>If you have "casual" users of the emulator (i.e., only occasionally
>running it) Reflection has server versions which are budget tolerable
>for some environments where you need wide deployment without a great
>demand for concurrent access.  Available for DOS, Win3.x, Win95/NT, and
>Mac, and scripts fairly portable.
>
>Networking is a real issue... if you want NS/VT access you must pay
>extra for Reflection.  They have a small DLL file that interfaces the
>emulator to WINSOCK.DLL that they charge an arm and a leg for,
>relatively speaking.  You might pay "x" dollars for their comprehensive
>TCP stack with NS/VT, but still pay "x/3" or thereabouts for that one
>little DLL if you want NS/VT (this is the NS/Open product, if I remember
>names right).
>
>The other emulators come with integrated NS/VT (Unison, Minisoft).
>
>If you have Win95 and using Microsoft's TCP/IP stack, all of them will
>run telnet right out of the box with no add-ons.
>
>A new alternative for those of you with a Un*x box sitting around - the
>recent freevt3k project product.  If you have an HP terminal emulator
>already and use a Un*x box (esp. 9000) this does the same as telnet but
>uses NS/VT protocol, not telnet.  If you don't have HP emulator but have
>VT-xxx instead, it will translate "basic" terminal control sequences
>(but not to the extent of running VPLUS, unless Randy Medd pulled a
>rabbit out of his hat while I wasn't looking, and I'd be pleased to be
>corrected!).
>If you have an Xterm emulator or terminal, you can use the X-based
>hpterm emulator (packaged with freevt3k) to launch freevt3k from and
>voila! - you have a free terminal emulator.
>
>There is no un*x-based (other than HP-UX hpterm) freeware/shareware HP
>terminal emulator that I'm aware of.  There are a couple of commercial
>emulators (I think 'IX/92' or something like that - the vendor is on the
>list and may clarify) available for general un*x platforms which can do
>hpterm emulation on a vt-xxx terminal (emulator) and at least one of
>them does NS/VT as well.
>
>For freevt3k info check http://raven.utc.edu/archives under freevt3k to
>find the ftp site for the package.  Dan Hollis used to keep this up but
>he has left the list (hopefully the package is still there <?>).  This
>was a most noteworthy project that hasn't received much publicity (or
>recent activity) but it is a viable, freeware alternative for
>noncritical applications.  Kudos to Dan Hollis, Bruce Toback, Randy
>Medd, and others for their contributions here (there was one other major
>contributor who did the X-based hpterm integration but I don't recall
>his name, and can't conveniently look it up right now; my apologies).
>
>Jeff Kell <[log in to unmask]>
>