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Accurate ANSI Emulation in Mac OS X?
bedouin writes "I occasionally telnet to some BBSs that are very rich in ANSI graphics. While I can usually navigate fine through message areas and file boards, playing classic door games like Food Fight is almost unbearable. For about a year I've been searching for a Mac OS X terminal emulator that can accurately draw ANSI graphics just as they would appear on DOS systems with ansi.sys, but haven't found anything yet. Any suggestions? A native (and free or shareware) Mac OS X app would be prefered, but I'm willing to use an X11 or maybe even classic alternative as well. So far I've experimented with iTerm, GLterm, and aterm with unimpressive results."
Boy, that takes me WAY back. I seem to remember a program called MACTerm that did a semi-ok job at ANSI graphics, other than it being all in black & white anyway (this was before color macs). I doubt somehow that you'd find anything that would deal with color....unless you programmed it yourself.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
If you have an appropriate charset locale installed, 'luit' (comes with X11) can emulate any locale when run in a proper unicode terminal. it is a great tool for connecting to systems expecting odd character sets.
I have been told that http://iterm.sf.net might be able to do this with some special DOS fonts I know nothing about. Give it a whirl. The authors are really nice people, and might be willing to help if you have questions.
A great libre project that could be worth the try (even more so if you're into old games) is DOSBox which does a great job simulating a 1990-era DOS machine, using SDL. As it's emulating the CPU, you'll be able to summon it on your reverse-endian architecture. All you need now is a good telnet client.
Overhead for a telnet session, you could object, but as an added bonus you'll be able to reminisce all those 2 and 4 and 16-color days.
Feel ready to own one or many Tux Stickers?
Additionally, being able to transfer files with Zmodem would be great as well. Though I think this is pushing things too far.
I've been slowly writing my own terminal program just because of the exact reason you've mentioned.
The trick in my case was simply to find a Mac font that contained the IBM Extended ASCII characters in the same sequence. There are two such fonts floating around that will do the trick -- IBMAC and ENCLAVE. IBMac works really well in my experience.
Usually, t's just a matter of putting them in your Fonts folder and telling your term program to use them for the display.
I've slapped them up on my
http://homepage.mac.com/kiddailey/files/misc/ib
Note that they're bitmap fonts, so forget trying to view them in Fontbook.
If you'd like to give my extremly rough, full-ansi supporting work-in-progress term program a try I'd be more than happy to slap it up somewhere for you
Argh. Someday I'll learn - preview first, then submit.
f onts.sit
http://homepage.mac.com/kiddailey/files/misc/ibm-
The only other point I forgot to mention is that your term program will need at least ANSI color support (that you may have to tweak) for this to work right.
My last suggestion is PuTTY. I've always found it to be an excelent program in the Windows world, and they have source for a Unix version which should work on OS X (this is based on the the Unix underpinnings, not anything written anywhere I saw). Download page, look under "Unix source" or something like that.
Hope one of those works, have fun.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
You can use a dos font, it still wont give you ansi color. I had this same problem on iTerm, and the default terminal.
I finally used fink, and use kde konsole. I can't believe OSX wouldnt support true ansi color with its default terminal.
Loaded BitchX and compare, you can see the difference. Fonts are easy, decent emulation is the bitch. (pun intended)
I can think of few things that would make bash cooler than if it could render colors like the ANSI ones.
It's scary to think that we can send a robot to Mars running linux, but we can't get more than 7 colors out of our Bash shells.
It doesn't seem like terribly difficult code to write. I'd do it myself if I could find the time.
Does anyone have any pointers or starting points on where to begin doing this?
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
For OS X - have a look at ZTerm. It may do what you are looking for. It's a terminal emulator that can work on a variety of interfaces. http://homepage.mac.com/dalverson/zterm/
If not there are two classic apps I can think of - Microphone, which I used to use back in the days before the internet to link up to friends and BBSs. The other is Black Night, which can be found on old mac user group archives.
Check this out: http://www.pollet.net/GLterm/ from the site: GLterm is a replacement for the Terminal application which ships with MacOS X. It's made to be faster, and to support more common terminal features. It supports full ANSI colors, all vt102 protocol, all DEC function keys, and a selection of useful xterm sequences. The Big Thing is that GLterm uses X11 .bdf fonts and renders them using..OpenGL. So it's very fast... as long as you have a working 3D accelerator. It should work as intended on B&W G3 and up for desktops and on White iBook and up for laptops: ie a machine whose 3D accelerator is handled properly in OSX. To this date (April 2002) Rage II, II+, Pro are not accelerated.
PuTTY is pretty solid, and I believe it handles ANSI.
It's primarily Win32 software, but there is a UNIX source. Might work in OS X, though there is an OS X port on the way (according to the FAQ)
Try the Mac Orchard for all things Mac Internet: http://www.macorchard.com/ Specifically, the terminal apps page (DataComet might work for you), or the Commercial apps page if you want to spend more money... Drew
Well, since OS X has such great Java support, either natively or via a web browser (also native, but different interface, y'know?), are there any JAVA ANSI terminal emulators/telnet interfaces that could either be opened directly or as an applet in Safari or whatnot?
You wouldn't mind posting some BBS information for the ACSII-porn goldmines you've been holding out on.. would ya?
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
Zterm http://homepage.mac.com/dalverson/zterm/ personally I still use v0.9 on my SE as a serial console, but it will handle Zmodem and PC ANSI BBS, and the latest versions are of course OS X native.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
I can't believe OSX wouldnt support true ansi color with its default terminal.
I can't believe my G5 didn't come with a punch-card reader or a buggy-whip holder, either.
I write in my journal
Wow way to actually read the original authors comments.
cheers- raga
I can't believe OSX wouldnt support true ansi color with its default terminal.
I can't believe my G5 didn't come with a punch-card reader or a buggy-whip holder, either.
com
I expect any unix based OS to support a term mapping thats used on a daily basis.
Ansi Color is supported on all unix OS's except OSX, it being new could be the problem. But you have to use darwin to get a unix console with true 16 color ansi-type support.
You act likes its a dead emulation, if you use BitchX or other unix based console application with color support, its prob based off the 16 colors for ansi terms. Load BitchX or irssi, you will see that OSX doesnt support it in terminal without major tweakage.
Crazy talk! Supporting standard color schemes in terminals...
Try setting the "TERM" environment variable to "ansi80x25" or something like that, to see if that helps. You probably don't need a new application - you probably just need to set different terminal emulation in your current app.
I expect any unix based OS to support a term mapping thats used on a daily basis.
You ended your sentence prematurely. You were about to tell us by whom it's used on a daily basis. Then somebody else was going to point out that the group you cited was insignificantly small, and we all could have had a good laugh.
See what you spoiled?
You act likes its a dead emulation
Yes. That's exactly what I did. Glad you got it.
Load BitchX or irssi
I had to google those to even find out what they are. Turns out they're pitifully obsolete and user-hostile chat programs. Anybody who wants to use one of them should use Snak instead. Problem solved.
(Actually, anybody who wants to use one of them should take a long, hard look into his soul and ask himself why he wants to use this "IRC" thing at all. But that's a whole 'nother discussion.)
I write in my journal
Uhh... I am using Panther right now. I am using epic with a colorized script, lynx with colors, colored bash prompts, etc all perfectly fine in Terminal.app. Are you sure "Use ANSI Color" isn't unchecked in the Terminal Inspector?
Now when it comes to IBM PC-ish fonts, that is a different story.
Beware, Nugget is watching... See?
You didnt compare with a linux or bsd terminal did you? Nope, the colors are not the same.
Why not start with the program that works the best, grab its source, find the bits that dont quite render the ANSI right, and simply fix it up so that it works right. Or am I missing something here?
Just when I thought I was the only one who checked the boards, I find out there are two. j/k.
.Mac site looks like a good bet.
f onts.sit
u surper.html
Anyhow, I've encountered the exact same problem, and our friend who posted the fonts on his
http://homepage.mac.com/kiddailey/files/misc/ibm-
There are a couple of other things I'd like to bring up. First, I noticed that the backspace doesn't work automatically under the terminal when connecting to telnet sessions. There is a check box in the preferences to change that. Secondly, I write messages in some of the games and apparently the terminal puts in some bogus characters here and there. This may be related to the fonts yet again. However, I thought it was worth mentioning.
For those of you who scoff at playing some door games on the BBS, I suggest you try Usurper. It is a lot of fun. Here is a link to a page that talks about the game in detail, and has some links to where you can telnet to, and play it.
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Castle/7177/
P.S. Some BBS installs have a web front end leveraging Java, which work quite well.
Where do they go? /Library/Fonts???
Son of a bitch... You came so close to owing me a new keyboard for that one... Buggy-whip holder... Fucking priceless. I agree with your point, by the way.
Someday a real rain is gonna come...
methinks you are a loser.
Wow, no Putty on Mac OS X? Damn, I thought putty ran on everything. There's even a version that runs on my cell phone. No lie, http://s2putty.sourceforge.net/
I've run Black Night 1.07 under OS 9.1, but have not tested it in Classic. I believe it was last updated in 1997. I used it to telnet into a BBS with color ANSI graphics. It supports Zmodem and is extendable with Communications Toolbox plugins. I couldn't find a site for the author, but the software is still out there http://www.macosarchives.com/terminal.html
BitchX and irssi both support something that I've used for almost a decade and that is detaching the session and reconnecting from another host. This is but one of the features that Snak doesn't support.
You might call these programs obsolete, but seeing as how the IRC protocol has remain more or less unchanged for a really long time, I fail to see how Snak innovates. The only feature Snak brings to the table is that it has a GUI. Whoop-de-shit.
The only feature Snak brings to the table is that it has a GUI.
Um. It seems to me that what Snak brings to the table is that it works on your Mac.
I write in my journal
So anything that differs from your pet interface of this week is "obsolete?" Anyone who doesn't use your blessed IRC client must be a loser, then?
What an ignorant fucktard you are. I am a huge fan of the command line but I don't go around calling GUI users names and being obnoxiously "sarcastic" about their choice of software.
Tolerance is an important thing in life, my friend. Learn it, or you'll have some serious problems.
Just use xterm with an ANSI font. You already have the app if you installed X11.
Fire up an xterm with an ANSI font like sabvga. Install the X11 package to get xterm and be able to emulate any terminal you want.
s ifont.h tml
Get the fonts here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~us5zahns/enl/an
iterm does a much better job at ANSI than the built-in terminal does, but you should also install a good vt100 termcap to ensure the color will work right. There's instructions somewhere out there -- I'd look if I weren't so tir...*splat*... *zzz*
i am a soviet space shuttle
Tolerance is an important thing in life, my friend. Learn it, or you'll have some serious problems.
;)
Isn't this like driving 75 in a school zone to catch someone and yell at them for speeding...
Tolerance does not include calling people "ignorant fucktards" and your comment probably just reinforced the whole reason why the first poster believes all people who use IRC and ANSI BBSs to be freaks in the first place.
But my G5 *did* come with a buggy whip holder, they threw it in for free because the damn thing was backordered for 8 months...
Old memories only, I'm afraid.
I looked into this very carefully back circa 1985 to 1989, because I was in the computer unit of a research institution that was heavily into Digital gear, had databases and so forth that exploited Digital terminals, and had standardized on Macs for personal computers.
At the time I found three "winners."
--Apple's own MacTerminal had the most complete, accurate, and lovingly faithful VT100 emulation of anything I ever tested. It worked with everything, and in particular supported double high/double wide characters, everything about keypads. It was by far the best VT100 emulator of any kind, on any platform, I ever evaluated. No graphics, though (no "sixels").
--White Pine Software's Mac240 was a very faithful VT240 emulator and was quite good for graphics.
--Versaterm was not a flawless VT100 substitute, but it was very good at everything it did, and it did a lot.
Many programs that claimed VT100 emulation were quite poor at it, particular issues involving commands that affected the VT100's internal state.
The quick test is to try double high/double wide characters. An emulator that doesn't do them is not aspiring to be a high-fidelity DEC emulator. If an emulator does do them, it's a sign that the developers were really trying and probably knew their stuff.
Much as I'd love to love them, Red Ryder/White Knight were lousy at VT100 emulation. If that means anything to anyone.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Come on, in this world of geeks, we can't live without color terminals for colorised ls directory listings, or funky prompts :)
My recomendation would be to install the X server and run xterm, though it probably wouln't look to, sexy compared to the rest of your desktop I've not had any problems with it.
Why not play a web based version of food fight here:
http://lunchfight.com/
Come on, in this world of geeks, we can't live without color terminals for colorised ls directory listings, or funky prompts
You know what? You really, really can. Try it and see for yourself.
I write in my journal
If you want quick and painless ANSI terminal emulation, looking for a modern app that supports it is the wrong way to go about it. I've tried all the modern terms and they all do a worse job than this method.
- Download an ANSI font from here
- Place sabvga.pcf in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc
- cd to that dir and run "sudo mkfontdir"
- Fire up X11 in your Utilities folder
- Open an Xterm and run "xtern -fn sabvga"
Voila! You now have perfect ANSI terminal emulation because it is exactly the same program as people have been using for ANSI for decades!You had to google to know what BitchX was??? *gasp* "IRC" thing??? What are you, 7??
Funny though, BitchX works fine on my Mac.
The TERM environment variable is used to tell the applications which emulation your terminal is using so they can send the correct escapte sequences. Changing it will make the apps send different codes which will mess up program you start.
Back in my Mac OS 7.X days I found Black Night. This program does the best job I've seen on a Mac.
Bash can handle any colour the terminal it's being displayed by can. Just send the terminal escape codes, and it's all set. So if you terminal supports 3 or 6 char RGB colours, bash can do that fine.
MacOSXHints has a new hint about ANSI colours in Terminal.
Haha BitchX and irssi are user hostile?!
So does BitchX and Irssi.
Hmm. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer Fire.
Just wish it wasn't so much of a CPU hog. My horses are hooked up to RC5, no sense getting them distracted.
There was a program called Black Night and I believe it supported telnet. I never used it bacause I think it was shareware and ZTerm was simply a better program (and free) for someone dialing BBS's.
You can find it here.
have u tried Eterm?
RC5? My God you have your priorities distorted. Read this why don't you? What a waste of CPU-cycles. If you're going to use them, why not do something like Protein Folding, where you can contribute to the cure of diseases?
Sheesh...
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
and get a stupid ANSI!
should work nicely. Use http://tigert.gimp.org/files/fonts/vga.pcf with rxvt in X11, and it will be pretty close to IBM-PC high ascii. I've used this solution on various Unix/X11 systems for years in order to display ANSI art properly (for BBS's, etc).
Yeah same here. I think this is a PICNIC problem: Problem In Chair, Not In Computer.
My other car is first.
> *splat* *zzzz*
;)
Do you always shit yourself before going to sleep at the keyboard
My other car is first.
The new MacTelnet for Mac OS X looks looks promising...(it's still in alpha though)
Homepage:
http://www.mactelnet.com/
Sourceforge page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mactelnet/
Er, no. :p
i am a soviet space shuttle
(Actually, anybody who wants to use one of them should take a long, hard look into his soul and ask himself why he wants to use this "IRC" thing at all. But that's a whole 'nother discussion.)
What the hell are you blathering on about IRC for and why did the mods mod you anything but troll?? A "Bulletin Board System" running "door games" (Legend Of the Red Dragon is god, using "American National Standards Institute" colors, is something from obviously before your time and has as much to do with IRC as you eating an orange and causing the president to get fatter.
P.S. Snak sucks.