Tonight I ran a series of not-very-scientific tests on 8 different terminals for MS-DOS, using the ao486 core on my MiSTer.

Using Hayes modem emulation:
Telix
QModem
ProComm
Terminate
TeleMate
BananaCom
Kermit

Using PPP:
mTCP Telnet

I'll be editing together a video of it all, but in summary, I found WAY bigger variance than I expected.

ANSI rendering quality: Some terminals had a harder time rendering ANSI screens created in modern tools like IcyDraw, with spurious/missing line breaks, and misinterpreting complex control sequences. The reference rendering
is SyncTerm.

Winner: TeleMate -- Rendered my entire board identically to SyncTerm.

Excellent: QModem, Terminate, BananaCom -- One control sequence incorrectly interpreted as blinking, otherwise looks correct.

Fair: Telix, ProComm, Kermit -- Some screens have incorrect line breaks

Poor: mTCP Telnet -- Many screens have sections with incorrect colouring.

Multi Relay Chat:

Good: ProComm, Terminate, TeleMate, Kermit, mTCP Telnet

Problems: Telix, QModem, BananaCom -- Prints control sequences [1;255;255 everywhere.

Note: In ALL terminals, PageUp/PageDown were either hotkeys to upload/download a file, or use the terminal's built-in scrollback buffer. Can't scroll back through messages.

Kannons and Katapults (ANSI Music):

Good: QModem

Good, but no sounds (even where music support is available): Everything else.

LORD2:

Good: Everything except Kermit and mTCP Telnet.

The latter two terminals do not print the smiley face character and have other issues rendering the play field.

ANSImation (20 for Beers):

"Missed it by that much": mTCP Telnet. Renders all screens correctly, but sometimes fails to send keystrokes, and sometimes stops sending ANSI until a key is pressed. Could be related to PPP on the MiSTer, but I doubt it.

Good: Telix, ProComm, Terminate, TeleMate, BananaCom -- ANSI isn't detected at connection, and the "Press X twice" screen doesn't render properly. No Topaz font support. Otherwise animations play OK. Some terminals can't have the status line disabled, and this has the expected outcome of breaking some screens.

Bad: QModem -- "PRESS ENTER" animation renders each frame beside the last.

Worse: Kermit -- Shows first 24 lines of screens, then screen doesn't scroll, so remaining lines are all shown on screen line 25.

The biggest surprise was TeleMate's handling of control sequences above and beyond what ANSI.SYS supports. For rendering quality, it was the clear winner.

The next biggest surprise was what an obtuse piece of shit Kermit is, and how badly it renders everything. It has a HUGE amount of configurability though, and perhaps if I cared to digest the **350 PAGE MANUAL** that goes with it, then the results could perhaps be improved.

In any case, there you go. If you wanna BBS from DOS with your WiFi232 modem thingie, use TeleMate.

I had originally planned this exercise to be on the Amiga, but being December, I thought it would be a cool #DOSember project!

Cheers,
RetroSwim

--- Ezycom V2.15g1 01FD0295
* Origin: >> Pool's Open - The RetroSwim BBS (21:2/121)

Hiya,

good work! Do you also have version numbers of the programs you tested?
I am missing the terminals of the mailers, like Frontdoor, Intermail and Portal of Power(?)

Gtx!
sPI

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: -.sNd!GRDn.- (21:1/116)

Hello Retroswim!

On 19 Dec 2025, Retroswim said the following...

Tonight I ran a series of not-very-scientific tests on 8 different terminals for MS-DOS, using the ao486 core on my MiSTer.

Thanks a lot for digging into this! Can't wait to see the vid! =)

TeleMate was one of my favorites back in the day; later on, I switched to Terminate.

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

Re: MS-DOS BBS Term roundup
By: Retroswim to All on Fri Dec 19 2025 01:36 am

Tonight I ran a series of not-very-scientific tests on 8 different terminals for MS-DOS, using the ao486 core on my MiSTer.

Using Hayes modem emulation:
Telix
QModem
ProComm
Terminate
TeleMate
BananaCom
Kermit

ANSI rendering quality: Some terminals had a harder time rendering ANSI

Winner: TeleMate -- Rendered my entire board identically to SyncTerm.

Telemate ended up being my favorite comm program in the 90s. I've occasionally used it in DOSBox with modem emulation, and indeed, it seems to do a good job of rendering ANSI even today.

Fair: Telix, ProComm, Kermit -- Some screens have incorrect line breaks

I was disappointed to see issues with Telix in DOSBox with modem emulation, as Telix was another favorite comm program of mine.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.33-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Re: MS-DOS BBS Term roundup
By: Retroswim to All on Fri Dec 19 2025 01:36 am

Howdy,

Tonight I ran a series of not-very-scientific tests on 8 different terminals for MS-DOS, using the ao486 core on my MiSTer.

In the back of my mind, I've always been on the look out for a MiSTer FPGA (de10-nano), then I started looking again the other day and saw there was a clone produced. (Dont recall if it was available).

I was thinking of getting one to run my 1993 Ezycom system that I had back in the day, under DV. Or I might run it under OS/2, which I always wanted, but never bought it.

Are they worth it? Do you have any POV on the clones?

Or I just run it under QEMU on my CM5s, thats another option I guess (and might give me more flexibility for serial port to IP)...


...ëîåï
--- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
* Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)

I am missing the terminals of the mailers, like Frontdoor, Intermail and Portal of Power(?)

FD /TERM was my goto back in the dialup days.

... Hostages? What do you mean, I thought they were targets..

--- Renegade v1.35/DOS
* Origin: The Titantic BBS Telnet - ttb.rgbbs.info (21:1/144)

Re: Re: MS-DOS BBS Term roundup
By: Exodus to Spinoza on Thu Dec 18 2025 05:10 pm

Howdy,

I am missing the terminals of the mailers, like Frontdoor, Intermail and Portal of Power(?)

I think I started out on FrontDoor, but went to Portal of Power because it was "postcardware"... I think I sent a postcard... :|

I still have it running in a VM at home, and its my test for EMSI/Zmodem to clrghouz...


...ëîåï
--- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
* Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)

Tonight I ran a series of not-very-scientific tests on 8 different terminals for MS-DOS, using the ao486 core on my MiSTer.

I'll be editing together a video of it all, but in summary, I found WAY bigger variance than I expected.

Sweet! I'll be watching the channel for video posts! Thanks for doing so... w00t w00t.



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hello Retroswim,

Answering a msg of <19 Dec 25>, from you to All:

great ! please post the yt link if you've finished the vid!

ByEbYe
--
Daniel

telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

... Uptime: 2d 0h 53m 15s
--- GoldED/2 1.1.4.7+EMX
* Origin: Roon's BBS - Budapest, HUNGARY (21:4/148)

Hello paulie420!

18 Dec 25 18:36, you wrote to Retroswim:

Tonight I ran a series of not-very-scientific tests on 8
different terminals for MS-DOS, using the ao486 core on my
MiSTer.

I'll be editing together a video of it all, but in summary, I
found WAY bigger variance than I expected.

Sweet! I'll be watching the channel for video posts! Thanks for doing so... w00t w00t.

|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

Hi. I don't know if you've already posted the yt link, but if not, could you share it?

Thanks.

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: Citrick BBS citlmbbs.synchro.net (21:3/219.1)
---
* Origin: Citrick BBS citlmbbs.synchro.net (21:3/219.1)

Hi. I don't know if you've already posted the yt link, but if not, could you share it?

The video doesn't exist yet, the livestream was last night, I need to edit nearly 4 hours of video into something digestible.

I'll post it here when it's ready :)

Cheers,
RetroSwim

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

good work! Do you also have version numbers of the programs you tested?

I have it recorded, and will include all the details when I post the video.

In every case except Kermit, I used the latest version I could lay my hands on. Kermit was I think 1 or 2 versions behind the last release because I could only find the source code for the last release.

Stay tuned! :)

Cheers,
RetroSwim

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

In the back of my mind, I've always been on the look out for a MiSTer
FPGA (de10-nano), then I started looking again the other day and saw
there was a clone produced. (Dont recall if it was available).

There are two clones on the market: "Mister Pi" from Taki Udon, and one from QMTech. The former is being sold in batches, the latter is available from AliExpress and other marketplaces.

Are they worth it? Do you have any POV on the clones?

I have a lot of fun with my MiSTer. If the price of admission was still that of the Terasic DE10 Nano, I'd probably say no, not worth it unless you have a specific need.

But with the inexpensive clones now available, I say go for it!

The word "clone" usually has some negative connotations, but since MiSTer FPGA isn't really a product per se, but a specification for how RAM, IO, Video DAC, etc connect to the Cyclone FPGA chip, the clones are for all intents and purposes identical to a setup using an original Terasic DE10 Nano board.

Which is all to say, I can't recommend the clones highly enough! :)

Or I just run it under QEMU on my CM5s, thats another option I guess
(and might give me more flexibility for serial port to IP)...

For Ezycom, I think this is the better approach. ao486 on MiSTer only gives you the one virtual modem, so multi-node would be really hard if not impossible to do.

I run Ezycom under a Windows 10 32-bit VM, on a Proxmox host. I use Net2BBS/NetFOSS which handles Telnet connections, and emulates DesqView for multi-node concurrency.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
RetroSwim

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Retroswim wrote to All <=-

The next biggest surprise was what an obtuse piece of shit Kermit is,
and how badly it renders everything. It has a HUGE amount of configurability though, and perhaps if I cared to digest the **350 PAGE MANUAL** that goes with it, then the results could perhaps be improved.

In any case, there you go. If you wanna BBS from DOS with your WiFi232 modem thingie, use TeleMate.

We knew Kermit was bad, I mostly only used it to connect to The
Mainframe, and to download another terminal program.

Telemate was cool because it had its own sort-of multitasking - you
could open up a notepad and write while you were downloading.

Telix was the boss because of the scripting language, you could script
logging onto the BBS, downloading QWK/BW packets and uploading replies
per BBS. The host mode got a few people started down the sysop rabbit
hole, too.

Procomm/Procomm Plus was always the gold standard for emulation - not
just for ANSI but for VT100/220 function keys and screen controls. When
I connected to PBXes and The Mainframe, I'd use Procomm.

In fact, for Nortel PBXes, people wrote and distributed Procomm scripts
to do global changes, create configuration listings and more. The script
was all distributed by hand at their conferences from what I could tell.


--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

deon wrote to Exodus <=-

I am missing the terminals of the mailers, like Frontdoor, Intermail and Portal of Power(?)

I think I started out on FrontDoor, but went to Portal of Power because
it was "postcardware"... I think I sent a postcard... :|

I started off on FrontDoor, mostly because the BBSes in my othernet
were using it and I needed the help getting started. Later I switched
to BinkleyTerm, as I moved to OS/2 and wanted native apps. Going from a
file-attach mailer to a BSO-style mailer took a bit of getting used to.



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Hi. I don't know if you've already posted the yt link, but if
not, could you share it?

The video doesn't exist yet, the livestream was last night, I need to
edit nearly 4 hours of video into something digestible.

I'll post it here when it's ready :)

Hi.
Please be patient with those hours of video :P
I'll have to check it out as soon as you publish it.

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: Citrick BBS citlmbbs.synchro.net (21:3/219.1)

In any case, there you go. If you wanna BBS from DOS with your WiFi232 modem thingie, use TeleMate.

Good to know...

Good write up.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (21:1/199)

Winner: TeleMate -- Rendered my entire board identically to SyncTerm.

I knew it all along!


--- NE BBS v1.13.2 (linux; x64)
* Origin: NE BBS - nebbs.servehttp.com:9223 (21:3/193)