This MacNews Category Review looks at terminal emulation solutions for Mac OS X. Products covered include 5PTerm, Tn3270, Democracy, Celview AS/400 Edition, Celview Mainframe Edition, CoMa X Voice/Fax/Pro, dataComet, Helios EtherShare, HOBLink J-Facelifter, MacWise, MediOSX, mxConnect, mxOSX, PDP-8/E Simulator, PowerTerm InterConnect, SBMac and TerminalOne.

5PTerm

[url=http://www.powerlan-usa.com/]5PTerm[/url] provides enhanced emulation for a wide range of terminals (3270, tn3270, 5250, tn5250, VT420, PC-ANSI) that lets you connect to a variety of computers, including IBM mainframe, AS/400, UNIX and VAX machines. You can have multiple sessions with several different hosts at the same time.

Tn3270

[url=http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/CIS/tn3270/]Tn3270[/url] is a terminal emulation program for connecting to computers which use IBM 3270 terminals.

Democracy

[url=http://www.getdemocracy.com/]Democracy[/url] is a free and open-source platform for Internet television and video. Its interface lets users subscribe to channels, watch video, and build a video library. The project is non-profit, free and open source, and built on open standards.

Celview AS/400 Edition

[url=http://www.celview.com/]Celview AS/400 Edition[/url] is a full function, single user display, file transfer and printing application providing access to applications and data on IBM AS/400 systems. Network connections are supported for SNA and TCP/IP.

Celview Mainframe Edition

[url=http://www.celview.com/]Celview Mainframe Edition[/url] is a full function, single user display, file transfer and printing application providing access to applications and data on IBM Mainframe systems. Network connections are supported for SNA, TCP/IP and NetWare for SAA Gateway.

CoMa X Voice/Fax/Pro

[url=http://hartmann-b.de/]CoMa X Voice/Fax/Pro[/url] is a fax and voice-mail-system for sending and receiving faxes. It can serve as an answering machine, mailbox and terminal with the internal z-modem.

dataComet

[url=http://www.databeast.com/]dataComet[/url] is an AppleScriptable Telnet and TN3270 SOCKS application featuring key remapping, macro recording and automated logins, edit windows, and modeless configuration dialogs. dataComet supports multiple Kerberos-secure VT220, PC-ANSI, and IBM 3279 color terminal emulator windows with searchable scrollback buffers and Internet Config support to open URLs.

Helios EtherShare

[url=http://www.helios.de/]Helios EtherShare[/url] allows integration ofUNIX servers, including Mac OS X 10.2, into Mac networks, and provides enterprise grade file and print services for mission critical environments.

HOBLink J-Facelifter

[url=http://www.hobsoft.com/]HOBLink J-Facelifter[/url] provides a graphical user interface for 3270 and 5250 applications via the Internet. And the HOBLink J Term 3.3 offers 3270, 5250, VT, HP700, SINIX 97801 and 9750 terminal emulations, all within one application. It can be run on every computer, which has a "Java Virtual Machine" (JVM) which supports JDK 1.1.7 installed.

MacWise

[url=http://www.carnationsoftware.com/]MacWise[/url] emulates ADDS Viewpoint, Wyse 50, Wyse 60, Wyse 370, Televideo TV 925, DEC VT100, VT220 and Prism terminals. Esprit III color is also supported in Wyse 370 mode. MacWise allows a Mac to be used as a terminal -- connected to a host computer directly, by modem, or over the Internet. It also communicates directly with the Mac Unix shell.

MediOSX

[url=http://www.cam.com/]MediOSX[/url] is software for connection to Meditech host systems.

mxConnect

[url=http://www.cam.com/]mxConnect[/url] provides eulation for Honeywell Bull VIP7200, VIP7300, VIP7700, VIP7800 and HDS/BDS series of asynchronous and synchronous terminals. It also handles Data General Dasher D100, D200, D400, DEC VT52, VT100, VT200, VT300, ANSI3.64, ADDS Viewpoint, Hazeltine 1500 series, TeleVideo 900 series, Lear Siegler, PC Term, Zentec 8000, Meditech 5220, Wang VS 2110 and Wyse 50 terminals.

mxOSX

[url=http://www.cam.com/]mxOSX[/url] allows you to connect any Mac OS X based computer to various legacy host systems.

PDP-8/E Simulator

The [url=http://www.bernhard-baehr.de/]PDP-8/E Simulator[/url] is an emulator for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8/E minicomputer, a famous computer of the early 1970 years. The simulator, first released 1994, provides a user interface for running, writing and debugging PDP-8 software on a Mac and for learning about the internal functioning of a computer.

PowerTerm InterConnect

[url=http://www.ericom.com/]PowerTerm InterConnect[/url] is a Mac OS X native emulator for running legacy host based applications from within MacOS X. Supported hosts include IBM, Digital, Unix, Tandem, Televideo, HP, SCO, Data General, and more.

SBMac

[url=http://www.carnationsoftware.com/]SBMac[/url] provides terminal emulations for Wyse 50, Viewpoint, DEC and Prism. It's designed to work with host systems running Unidata's SB+ and supports host controlled colors, fast screen refreshes and the mouse. SB Mac supports Apple's Communications Toolbox for connections and file transfers. Other features include a phone list and dialer and on screen-programmable function keys.

TerminalOne

[url=http://www.yrrid.com/]TerminalOne[/url] is a VT102 VT220 VT320 color terminal emulator for Mac OS X.

For an in-depth round-up of Mac products, go to the [url=http://guide.apple.com/index.lasso]Macintosh Products Guide[/url].