Hyperterminal
Hyperterminal is perhaps the terminal emulation software that is most familiar to users of Microsoft operating systems. Beginning with Windows 95 Hyperterminal was distributed with each and every copy of Microsoft Windows up until Windows Vista, when Microsoft discontinued bundling it with their family of operating systems.
Hyperterminal was produced by Hilgraeve Inc, a software developer based in Detroit and while the program’s functionality was very limited compared to commercial competitors (and even some freeware alternatives) a ‘pro’ version was offered to users looking for something a little extra.
So, what did Hyperterminal do?
Hyperterminal was essentially a telnet client supporting VT52/100, ANSI and various videotext variants such as Minitel and Viewdata. It was able to handle TCP/IP or serial/modem connections and was also touted as being a tool for connecting to BBSs. Various types of file transfer, mostly along the lines of Kermit/xModem/zModem and so on, were supported. Microsoft even suggested using Hyperterminal to check and troubleshoot your modem.
Where can I download a copy of Hyperterminal?
Google is your friend. A couple of sites are still hosting versions of Hyperterminal for download, but I can’t vouch for them, so search at your own risk.
On the other hand there are a couple of freeware alternatives to Hyperterminal including the open source tera term and putty, both for Windows based operating systems. For other operating systems or for commercial equivalents (which tend to be far more comprehensive and complete in their implementation, which is handy if your looking for anything more complicated than a straight ssh/vt100 implementation) you might want to look through the links in the right hand column.