Date: December 18, 1995 -- January 8, 1996. Host: Sun Sparcserver 10, SunOS 4.1.3. Client: IBM PC 750 P90, Windows 95. Connection: Telnet via 10MB Ethernet, client and server on same net. VTTEST score: 1 point for each of 100 tests, plus up to 10 extra-credit points. Ripple test: Seconds to scroll 1000 80-character lines on an 80x24 screen.
DISCLAIMER: The evaluations in this table were done between December 18, 1995, and January 8, 1996, based on products that were current at that time. Thus they are a snapshot in time, and not intended as an ongoing up-to-the-minute review of each product as new releases of each one appear. The version number of each product reviewed is clearly stated.
Maximum scrollback lines are what the program permits, but the actual usable amount depends on the PC's available physical memory and swap space.
PROGRAM: K-95 QMPro CRT SimpTerm EWAN NetTerm WinQVT MSTelnet1.0 VERSION: 1.1.2 2.0 1.0B7 0.9.4 1.052 2.8.1 4.0 Win95 WinNT
VTTEST score 105[a] 46 71 61 33 73 59 28[c] 25[c] Ripple test, sec 4 3 11 13 4 25 16 13 8
CHARACTERISTICS K95 QMPro CRT SimpTerm EWAN NetTerm WinQVT MS Telnet 32-bit yes yes yes yes no no yes yes yes Long file names yes yes yes yes no no yes n/a n/a Multithread yes yes no no no no no no no Scripting yes yes no no no yes [d] no no Preloaded sites 200+ 6 0 0 0 400+ 0 0 0
CONNECTIONS K95 QMPro CRT SimpTerm EWAN NetTerm WinQVT MS Telnet Serial connections yes yes no no no yes yes no no TAPI supported no yes n/a n/a n/a no no n/a n/a Works without TAPI yes no n/a n/a n/a yes n/a n/a n/a Telnet yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Incoming Telnet yes no no no no no ? no no Rlogin yes no yes yes no no yes no no SuperLAT yes no no no no no no no no SOCKS no no yes no no no ? no no Runs in Win 95 yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes - Runs in Win NT yes no yes yes yes [o] yes - yes
TERMINAL EMULATION K95 QMPro CRT SimpTerm EWAN NetTerm WinQVT MS Telnet VT52 yes yes no yes yes yes yes yes yes VT100 yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes VT102 yes yes yes no no yes yes no no VT220 yes yes no no no no yes no no VT320 yes yes no no no no no no no ANSI yes yes no yes yes yes yes [e] [e] Scrollback lines 2000K 32K 10K 32K 32K 32K 75? 0 0 132 column mode yes [f] yes yes no yes yes no no Double h/w chars yes[g] no yes no no no yes no no Resize yes [f] yes yes yes yes yes ? yes NAWS yes [f] yes yes yes yes yes no no Colors yes yes yes yes yes yes yes [h] [h] Transparent print yes [i] no no yes yes yes no no Autoprint yes no no no no yes yes no no Key mapping yes yes [j] [j] yes yes yes no no Compose key yes no no no no no no no no Latin-1 yes [k] no no yes no [L] yes yes Other Roman yes [k] no no no no [L] no no Cyrillic yes [k] no no no no no no no Hebrew yes [k] no no no no no no no Chinese/Japanese no [k] no yes no no no no no
FILE TRANSFER K95 QMPro CRT SimpTerm EWAN NetTerm WinQVT MS Telnet Text/binary choice yes no no no n/a no yes n/a n/a Kermit protocol yes [m] no [n] no yes yes no no Kermit autodownload yes no no yes n/a no no n/a n/a ZMODEM protocol yes yes [n] [n] no yes no no no ZMODEM autodownload yes yes yes yes n/a yes n/a n/a n/a YMODEM protocol yes yes no no no no no no no YMODEM-G protocol yes yes no no no no no no no XMODEM protocol yes yes no no no no no no no Max Kermit packet 9024 [m] n/a 2048 n/a 94 1024 n/a n/a Max Kermit window 32 [m] n/a 1 n/a 1 1 n/a n/a Latin1 yes [m] n/a no n/a no no n/a n/a Other Roman yes [m] n/a no n/a no no n/a n/a Cyrillic yes [m] n/a no n/a no no n/a n/a Hebrew yes [m] n/a no n/a no no n/a n/a Japanese yes [m] n/a no n/a no no n/a n/a
PRICING K95 QMPro CRT SimpTerm EWAN NetTerm WinQVT MS Telnet Single-copy price $54 $99 $30 [p] [q] $20-36 $40+5 [r] [r] Academic license yes no [s] n/a [q] yes [s] [r] [r] Bulk license yes [s] [s] n/a [q] yes [s] [r] [r] Printed manual yes yes no no no yes ? no no
NOTES: [a] In Windows NT 3.51. In Windows 95, a Microsoft console driver bug prevents proper writing of attributes to 132-column windows; this lowers the score by 17 points because although 132-column windows are handled correctly, the attributes are wrong. When Microsoft fixes the bug, Kermit 95 will display attributes correctly in 132-column windows as it does now in Windows NT. [Note: K95 1.1.12 works around the Microsft bug and displays 132-column windows correctly.] [b] Crashes [c] Character-set test puts it into graphics mode, can't be reset, must be restarted to finish other tests. [d] Minimal, only two operations. [e] Claims to support this emulation but does not. [f] Not host selectable. 132-column mode, once entered, can never go back to 80-column mode. Responses to resize requests are incorrect when in 132-column mode. [g] Simulated with correct spacing [h] Foreground or background color selectable, but not both. [i] It's an option, but nothing comes out of the printer. [j] Only function ( F ) keys can be mapped [k] All character translations must be supplied by user [L] DEC MCS is the default terminal character set; Latin-1 and ISO 646 German fonts are available to registered users on request. [m] Kermit protocol doesn't work [n] Download only, upload not available [o] Not advertised or supported for NT, but reportedly it works there. [p] Freeware with contributions encouraged. [q] Freeware with support contract available at $495 per year. [r] Bundled with Windows. [s] Additional licensing terms available only on request.
Please report errors and direct comments to kermit@columbia.edu.
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