Top moserial Alternatives: Finding the Perfect Serial Terminal
If you're a technical user, hardware hacker, or simply someone who needs to communicate with embedded systems, test equipment, or serial consoles, you're likely familiar with moserial. It's a clean, friendly GTK-based serial terminal for the GNOME desktop, known for its ASCII and HEX views, logging capabilities, and support for x, y, and z-modem file transfers. While moserial fills a crucial gap, especially for those migrating from Windows tools like Hyperlog or Hyperterminal, you might be looking for a moserial alternative that better suits your specific workflow or preferred platform. This guide explores some of the best alternatives available.
Top moserial Alternatives
Whether you're seeking a cross-platform solution, a more feature-rich environment, or something specifically tailored for a different operating system, the following moserial alternatives offer robust functionality for your serial communication needs.
PuTTY
PuTTY is a widely recognized free and open-source terminal emulator that serves as an excellent moserial alternative, particularly for users on Windows, Linux, and BSD. It supports various network protocols, including SCP and SSH, making it versatile for more than just serial communication. Its configurable nature, built-in SSH client, and Xterm emulation are strong features for a wide range of users.
JuiceSSH
For Android users, JuiceSSH stands out as a powerful moserial alternative. This free, all-in-one terminal client offers full-color terminal and SSH client capabilities, along with local shell, Mosh, and Telnet support. Its host management and SSH tunnel features make it ideal for managing servers and devices on the go.
Tera Term
Tera Term is a free and open-source terminal emulator for Windows, offering a solid moserial alternative for users on this platform. It provides VT100 emulation, telnet, and serial port connections, making it a reliable tool for various communication tasks, including those requiring SSH.
YAT - Yet Another Terminal
YAT (Yet Another Terminal) is a free and open-source Windows-based moserial alternative specifically designed for engineering, testing, and debugging serial communication. It supports a wide range of protocols including RS-232/422/423/485, TCP/IP, and UDP/IP, and features like configurable inter-character delay and timestamps make it excellent for precise control.
RealTerm
RealTerm is a free and open-source terminal program for Windows, serving as a powerful moserial alternative for those dealing with binary and other difficult data streams. Its focus on debugging comms makes it particularly useful for capturing and controlling complex data.
Putty for Mac
While moserial is GNOME-focused, Mac users can consider Putty for Mac as a commercial moserial alternative. It provides similar robust features to its Windows counterpart, including support for SSH, FTP, SCP, and Telnet, with excellent session and host management capabilities.
Shell NGN
Shell NGN offers a unique, cloud-based approach as a freemium moserial alternative. Available on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Web, it provides SSH, SFTP, and Telnet support, making it convenient for managing servers from anywhere with a web browser.
HTerm
HTerm is a free and portable terminal emulator for serial communication, available on Windows and Linux. It serves as a straightforward moserial alternative for users seeking a simple yet effective tool for basic serial communication without extensive features.
With a variety of excellent moserial alternative options available across different platforms and with distinct feature sets, you're well-equipped to find the perfect serial terminal for your specific technical and development needs. Explore these alternatives and choose the one that best aligns with your workflow and system preferences.