The ftp site for freevt3k is http://www.anime.net/freevt3k. >---------- >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]> >