How do I enable a serial console on Windows (2008 and/or 2012) such that I can log into it like the Good Old Days of Real Servers and issue provisioning commands, ideally via PowerShell? $ cu -l /dev/ttyS0 Connected. Aug 06, 2010 IMHO a good Windows serial communication app cannot be a console one, at least not purely console. This is because a good serial app should handle modern types of serial devices (USB, Bluetooth and so on) this means support for PnP device arrival and state notifications. The most portable and light version rather than other terminal programs. ConEmu always runs the standard Windows console. ZOC supports direct serial.
This is a list of notable terminal emulators. Most used terminal emulators on Linux and Unix-like systems are GNOME Terminal on GNOME and GTK-based environments, Konsole on KDE, and xfce4-terminal on Xfce as well as xterm.
- 1Character-oriented terminal emulators
- 1.1Unix-like
- 1.1.2Graphical
- 1.1Unix-like
- 2Block-oriented terminal emulators
Character-oriented terminal emulators[edit]
Unix-like[edit]
Command-line interface[edit]
- Linux console – implements a large subset of the VT102 and ECMA-48/ISO 6429/ANSI X3.64 escape sequences.
The following terminal emulators run inside of other terminals, utilizing libraries such as Curses and Termcap:
- GNU Screen – Terminal multiplexer with VT100/ANSI terminal emulation
- Minicom – text-based modem control and terminal emulation program for Unix-like operating systems
- tmux – Terminal multiplexer with a feature set similar to GNU Screen
![Windows Serial Console Programs Windows Serial Console Programs](/uploads/1/2/6/1/126107592/183248085.jpg)
Graphical[edit]
X/Wayland[edit]
Terminal emulators used in combination with X Window System and Wayland
- xterm – standard terminal for X11
- GNOME Terminal – default terminal for GNOME with native Wayland support
- guake – drop-down terminal for GNOME
- konsole – default terminal for KDE
- xfce4-terminal – default terminal for Xfce with drop-down support
- mrxvt – rxvt clone with additional features (latest version is 2008-09-10)
- Terminology – enhanced terminal supportive of multimedia and text manipulation for X11 and Linux framebuffer
- Tilda – A drop down terminal
- Yakuake – (Yet Another Kuake), a dropdown terminal for KDE
Apple macOS[edit]
Terminal emulators used on macOS
- Terminal – default macOS terminal
- iTerm2 – open-source terminal specifically for macOS
- xterm – default terminal when X11.app starts
- SyncTERM – includes serial line terminal
- ZTerm – serial line terminal
Apple Classic Mac OS[edit]
Microsoft Windows[edit]
Windows Serial Console Terminal
- ConEmu – local terminal window that can host console application developed either for WinAPI (cmd, powershell, far) or Unix PTY (cygwin, msys, wsl bash)
- HyperACCESS (commercial) and HyperTerminal (included free with Windows XP and earlier, but not included with Windows Vista and later)
- mintty – Cygwin terminal
- Windows Console – Windows command line terminal
Microsoft MS-DOS[edit]
- Qmodem and Qmodem Pro
IBM OS/2[edit]
- ZOC – discontinued support for OS/2
Commodore Amiga[edit]
Commodore 64[edit]
Block-oriented terminal emulators[edit]
Emulators for block-oriented terminals, primarily IBM 3270, but also IBM 5250 and other non-IBM terminals.
Coax/Twinax connected[edit]
These terminal emulators are used to replace terminals attached to a host or terminal controller via a coaxial cable (coax) or twinaxial cabling (twinax). They require that the computer on which they run have a hardware adapter to support such an attachment.
- RUMBA 3270 and 5250
tn3270/tn5250[edit]
These terminal emulators connect to a host using the tn3270 or tn5250 protocols, which run over a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection.
- x3270 – IBM 3270 emulator for X11 and most Unix-like systems[1]
- c3270 – IBM 3270 emulator for running inside a vt100/curses emulator for most Unix-like systems[1]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- The Grumpy Editor's guide to terminal emulators, 2004
- Comprehensive Linux Terminal Performance Comparison, 2007
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_terminal_emulators&oldid=909275654'
Windows' built-in command line programs aren't that great on their own. To make them better, we like to use third-party terminal programs, our favorite being the customizable and free Console.
Note: For this App Directory entry, we're talking about separate terminal programs, not shells. Windows' Command Prompt, PowerShell, and Cygwin are all different shells that come with their own programs. The programs we're talking about today are separate programs that use shells already on your system, which is why you won't find PowerShell and Cygwin among the competitors.
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Console2
Platform: Windows
Price: Free
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Price: Free
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Features
- Provides a fully-functional command line interface (CLI) that can run any existing shell on Windows—like PowerShell, Cygwin, or even PuTTY
- Open multiple tabs using any shell you want
- Text editor-like text selection
- Multiple window styles
- Configurable fonts, colors and transparency
- Lots of customizable hotkeys for opening new tabs, switching between tabs, and scrolling
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Where It Excels
Console is simple and easy to use while at the same time being much more configurable than any single-shelled program, while holding the ability to run any of those shells in a new tab—whether it be the UNIX-like Cygwin, Windows' very useful PowerShell, SSH king PuTTY, or the standard Windows Command Prompt. You can configure what the window looks like, open multiple tabs, and even run a number of different shells at once in the same window. It also has quite a few options for tweaking the behavior of the app, like how it selects text, which hotkeys and mouse buttons do what, and so on. If you ever do any work in a terminal on Windows, this program will make your life a little bit easier.
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Where It Falls Short
If you're a very heavy or very advanced terminal user, you may want something even more powerful than Console. Console isn't the most feature-filled terminal on the block, but that's a good thing—most other terminal programs are way more powerful, cluttered, and expensive than most users need. So, if you're looking for something with built-in search or line numbers, you may want to check out the competition section below.
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The Competition
The competition for apps like this is pretty thin on Windows. If you don't like Console, you'll probably want to check out PowerCmd as your next option. It's a bit pricier at $30, but it contains a few extra features like the ability to search your consoles, view multiple sessions in one big window, line numbering, and add bookmarks on certain lines. It's definitely not an app that most terminal users will need, and it's a bit slower than something like Console, but advanced users will probably prefer it.
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If you're a really advanced user that requires a powerful terminal every day, you might want to try out Take Command. It's very expensive ($99), but also insanely powerful, adding more than 140 new commands and 460 internal functions and variables to the standard Windows command prompt (not to mention a built-in file manager and debugger). It's definitely geared more toward developers than end users, but it's worth a mention for its sheer power alone.
Lastly, if the only shells you use are Cygwin or MSYS/MinGW, you might prefer Mintty over Console. Cygwin's default program isn't very great, and Mintty gives you a few extra options over Console, but doesn't let you run other shells (like the Command Prompt or PowerShell), so it isn't quite as useful. Mintty is also free.
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Do you have a favorite terminal program we didn't mention? Be sure to let us know about it in the comments.
Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.
Windows Serial Console Program
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