Windows 10 / 64 bit terminal emulators - suggestions for free emulators - RS232

[wizard69]

Hi Guys;

The evil IT people forced us to Windows 10 64 bit which has raised hell with my ability to support ancient equipment in a factory.    So amongst other things I need to find a flexible terminal emulator that runs well under Windows 10 / 64 bit.   Instead of trying out what I can find online I thought it might be better to ask what people deep into this work use.    The usage is mostly in maintenance mode (possibly some development work) in a plant with all sorts of devices with RS232 ports.    Imagine configuring an RF generator, process pump, transducer interface and such.   Devices you might find in a modern highly automated manufacturing plant.

I mentioned flexible because I need an easy way to configure end of lines, send odd characters, possibly even inter-character pacing.   I do use Eclipse but don't like the lack of flexibility for setting up ports there.    That might be due to lack of documentation / knowledge of the TM part of Eclipse.

[ataradov]

I use TeraTerm. It is small, works everywhere and has all the features you need.

[wizard69]

Thanks Guys
I will give Teraterm a spin.

[james_s]

I've been using PuTTY for many years, it does everything I've ever needed a terminal to do.

[chriva]

TeraTerm. Hands down, TeraTerm!

It doesn't have as many features as putty but it makes up for it by doing the things it can really, really well.

[wizard69]

Will be in at work tomorrow (today), hopefully I will have time to check both of these suggestions out.   At home I run Linux so I have lots of options there.    At work I needs something that a variety of technicians can adapt to under Windows 64.

[chriva]

If you know of anything similar to TeraTerm in particular I'd be forever grateful. Been using screen and it's frankly a artrithis inducing trainwreck with its weird keyboard combination. Not friendly to Nordic keyboard layouts

[DimitriP]

The evil IT people forced us to Windows 10 64 bit which has raised hell with my ability to support ancient equipment in a factory. 

<flogging evil IT people emoticon>

[Bicurico]

HyperTerminal from old Windows installations still work on Windows 10 64bit.

Regards,
Vitor

[kosthala1]

You can try the attached one.
Not advanced as teraterm, but it is simple to use and portable.

[Electro Detective]

I'd be confronting the evil IT people with a good dose of garlic breath first,
and hope they turn to dust like previous IT vampires I've had strong words with,
= problem solved, and retro back to the Windows that worked

Failing that, can't you use a personal laptop 'discretely' that runs the way you prefer?   

----------------------

what's with some IT people anyway? did they miss the memo that win 10 is a NO GO for serious IT admin work and especially SECURITY and privacy ?

[PlainName]

I user Terraterm a lot but sometimes there are more appropriate alternatives. YAT is one such that gets heavy use for particular scenarios:

https://sourceforge.net/p/y-a-terminal/wiki/Home/

[chriva]

You're forgetting they have actual workstation versions of their operative systems.
In windows 10 pro and up you can apply group policies to kill all annoying "features" btw. If you run Home edt you're just asking for a headache

[notsob]

There is also "coolterm"  - freeware, give it a try

https://freeware.the-meiers.org/

[Electro Detective]

You're forgetting they have actual workstation versions of their operative systems.

In windows 10 pro and up you can apply group policies to kill all annoying "features" btw. If you run Home edt you're just asking for a headache

IIRC its only win 10 Server you can do that with

Both Pro and Home still surf to MS for unwanted band-aids and security fillers when mom calls

Someone correct please if I missed the bus on Pro   

[SilverSolder]

HyperTerminal from old Windows installations still work on Windows 10 64bit.

Regards,
Vitor

Now that's a blast from the past.  I just tried it and it does work...  for the simplest stuff, it might be handy!

(Normally I use Putty)

[wizard69]

Sadly I have no control over those IT people, I'd run Linux if I could.   In any event things at work have not gone as planned as I've been putting out fires for the last couple of days.

As for IT hey can't seem to grasp that in a manufacturing plant I have tools to support that where built yesterday (fairly easy) sitting next to hardware that might be 20+ years old.   Of course everything in between and some of those controls require running specific software to access the controls in a reasonable manner.   Said software ended support 15 years ago and the company responsible doesn't exist anymore.   IT's response is "upgrade" having no idea what that involves.

I'd be confronting the evil IT people with a good dose of garlic breath first,
and hope they turn to dust like previous IT vampires I've had strong words with,
= problem solved, and retro back to the Windows that worked

Failing that, can't you use a personal laptop 'discretely' that runs the way you prefer?   

Well I suppose I could but at the moment I don't have one.   I got really pissed with the high failure rate for laptops, with one that I owned going on the blink very shortly after the warranty expired.   That was the last one which followed even more dramatic failures before that.    So I threw caution to the wind, resurrected an old desktop I hadn't used in like 8 years, put in new guts and now have myself a very nice Linux desktop box that runs like a champ.   I'm just not convinced that laptops make sense for me personally right now, iphone handles my mobile needs.

AT work frustration is high anyways (more stupidity that I can enumerate), I could easily do an early semi retirement if the cash was there.   The department is on its third manager in a couple of years and frankly I'm not sure he will have any more luck with the upper layers of management than those before him.   

----------------------

what's with some IT people anyway? did they miss the memo that win 10 is a NO GO for serious IT admin work and especially SECURITY and privacy ?

[JPortici]

i prefer Realterm
https://sourceforge.net/projects/realterm/

can't find the appeal to putty or teraterm, even windows has SSH (whenever i need it) and to talk to our hardware and send/receive short strings of hex i find realterm to have the best user interface (aka it works exactly as it would if i had written it)

[drussell]

and since Win7 is officially abandoned, they have no choice but to upgrade to Win10 or change OS completely to be compliant.

Windows 7 free support has ended.

It is still supported with security updates, etc. if you pay for them, for at least the next three years.

Last time I checked, there was even still an officially supported edition of XP Embedded, used in things like POS terminals.

[ebclr]

If you want the one that does all things, on terminal space, Try the most complete one

https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/

[Electro Detective]

What 'support' or 'security fillers' would OP wizard69 need for any abandoned Windows OS that's running abandoned vintage software ?

Surely the ransomware codetards aren't that desperate during these trying times, to chase that market too? 


Those I.T. people need to source a new street dealer for better quality choof   

[chriva]

You're forgetting they have actual workstation versions of their operative systems.

In windows 10 pro and up you can apply group policies to kill all annoying "features" btw. If you run Home edt you're just asking for a headache

IIRC its only win 10 Server you can do that with

Both Pro and Home still surf to MS for unwanted band-aids and security fillers when mom calls

Someone correct please if I missed the bus on Pro   

If you really want to lock down EVERYTHING you can throw blocks in the HOSTS file (or just block it in your company firewall). This is doable even on home edt.

Pro and higher:
I do find the reluctance to update really stupid if I'm honest here. I can understand if you don't want them to run during business hours (something that is also configurable in group policies. My machines are configured to ONLY update when I chose to).

Don't want the annoying apps? -Slipstream a script during installation and it won't install them. You can then fiddle in group policies to disable the store and the ability to run any apps at all.
Windows Antivirus junk -Also group policies.

Group policies can also be slipstreamed as a file during installation so there's no need to do it manually.

win + r and gpedit.msc. The most useful command you'll ever need to know.

And lastly: I can understand if you want Linux. It's a great tool in the box and I use it daily (Debian fanboy), but it does NOT belong in a normal business environment for anything else than servers.

[PlainName]

i prefer Realterm
https://sourceforge.net/projects/realterm/

I know nothing about this (other than going to look at it after this recommendation) but I note that there is a newer version than the SourceForge one (and SF has/had a bad rep for hanging onto stuff that's been moved away). Try:

https://realterm.i2cchip.com/

[PlainName]

I do find the reluctance to update really stupid if I'm honest here

I ran up my laptop yesterday to quickly check out some stuff then shut it down. Or tried - it decided it's going to install some update, so I couldn't put it away until that had done it's stuff.

That's one aspect. The other is that I prefer to use my computers just like I drive a car - that is, I don't think about it. I'm thinking about what I want to achieve, not the mechanics of doing that. Go round this corner? Done, I don't have to think that I need to turn the wheel a bit - no! a bit more! oh, too much - it's a sub-conscious thing. Similarly, I don't want to be thinking this is a right click or drag'n'hold or whatever, I want it to just happen. Microsofts updates often break things and change things so you're always aware that you're using the OS, much like if the car manufacturer nipped into my garage one night and changed the wheel to a lever.

Actually, I hate taking my car into a garage because the blighters move the seat. I can put it back where it was, but they change the rake too and it takes me weeks to not quite get it back to how it was but close enough to stop feeling like something is wrong.

If Microsoft would just fix things, fine, but they don't. And you don't have a choice about whether to accept the new non-windowed windows or invisible buttons and scrolling hints that only show after you start scrolling, etc.

[chriva]

That's also an option in gpedit
Administrative templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update -> "Do not adjust default option to 'install and Shut down'.. "


You can also opt out of non-important updates and only install things that are critical for your safety (like the smb1 flaw that enabled wannacry).

I get where you're coming from the the problem is very much possible to fix