# BadTerm
*The badass terminal.*
A cross-platform BBS client (telnet, SSH, RLogin and real modems) written in
Rust, in the tradition of SyncTERM, NetRunner, QModem and Telix. Runs
natively on Windows, macOS and Linux. Website, help and downloads:
<https://badterm.com/>.
BadTerm draws its own text-mode screen using real CP437 bitmap fonts, so ANSI
art renders pixel-for-pixel as it did on a VGA card. It doesn't depend on the
fonts and colors of a host terminal.
> **Status:** 0.3, in daily use. Telnet, telnet over TLS, SSH, RLogin, raw
> TCP and modem connections; ZMODEM, YMODEM, XMODEM and Kermit transfers;
> ANSI-BBS (as SyncTERM's CTerm, with its fonts, sixel, pictures, sound and
> the mouse), Avatar, RIPscrip, PETSCII, ATASCII, Viewdata, BBC Mode 7, IGS
> (Atari ST) and SkyPix (Amiga); and the dialing directory with import and export all
> work. See [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) for what's planned.
## Features
- **ANSI-BBS emulation**: cursor movement, erase/insert/delete, scroll regions,
save/restore cursor, cursor position reports (used by BBSes to detect ANSI),
CP437 "graphic" control characters, form feed clears the screen
- **Fonts**: the IBM VGA fonts; the Amiga fonts (Topaz, Topaz Plus,
MicroKnight, MicroKnight Plus, P0T-NOoDLE, mO'sOul) for Amiga BBSes; and
SyncTERM's 31 code-page fonts (Cyrillic in CP866, KOI8-R and CP1251,
Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, Baltic, Central and West European, Armenian,
CP850, CP865...) for BBSes in other languages: set per directory entry,
or by the BBS with CTerm's font selection (`CSI n ; m SP D`, including
the bright and blink font slots of `CSI ?31h` / `?34h`). With a
code-page font on the screen, what you type and paste is sent in that
code page (Cyrillic as CP866 or KOI8-R, say), and text you copy comes
out as the characters it shows
- **Palette changes** from the BBS (`OSC 4`, reset with `OSC 104`), as
SyncTERM does
- **Colors**: 16-color VGA palette with bold-as-bright, **iCE colors** (blink
bit selects a bright background; toggle with `Alt-I`, or by the server with
`CSI ?33h`), real blinking text when iCE is off, xterm 256-color, and 24-bit
color (SGR `38;2` and the CTerm/PabloDraw `CSI 1;r;g;b t` form)
- **Telnet** with BINARY, ECHO, SGA, TERMINAL-TYPE and NAWS negotiation;
**telnet over TLS** ("TelnetS", port 992); **RLogin**, which logs straight
in with the entry's user name and password; **raw TCP** for systems that
don't speak telnet
- **A real modem**: entries whose protocol is Modem dial their phone number
(the entry's address) on a modem on a serial port, a USB modem, a WiFi
modem or tcpser. Set the port, speed, flow control, init string and dial
command once in Settings (`Alt-O`, the Modem tab). The modem's replies
show as it dials, a BUSY line is redialed like a busy BBS, and the call
ends when the carrier drops: NO CARRIER.
- **SSH** (pure Rust, no OpenSSL): "none" auth for BBSes that run their own
login, public keys (a key file set in the entry, your SSH agent, or
`~/.ssh/id_ed25519`, `id_ecdsa`, `id_rsa`), keyboard-interactive and
password auth. Anything not stored, such as a password, a key passphrase or
a one-time code, is asked for in a login dialog. Host keys are trusted on
first use and pinned in BadTerm's own `known_hosts`; a changed key is
refused with an explanation.
- **ZMODEM** downloads start automatically when the BBS sends a file. Uploads
start with `Alt-U`, by dropping files on the window, or automatically when
the BBS starts receiving. Batches, progress, speed and ETA are shown, and
`Esc` cancels. Downloads never overwrite existing files. An interrupted
download is kept as `name.part` and resumes where it stopped when the BBS
sends the file again (ZMODEM crash recovery).
- **YMODEM, YMODEM-G and XMODEM** (CRC, 1K or the original checksum), for
BBSes and doors that offer them: start the BBS's side, then `Alt-G` to
download or `Alt-U` to upload. YMODEM keeps file names and sizes and sends
several files; XMODEM asks what to save a download as.
- **Kermit**, with long packets, sliding windows, CRC checks, compression
and file sizes, as C-Kermit and G-Kermit speak it: a download starts by
itself when the BBS's Kermit sends; to upload, start the BBS's Kermit
receiving, then `Alt-U` and choose Kermit.
- **A file picker** wherever BadTerm asks for a file or a folder: uploads,
importing and exporting the directory, saving the scrollback, an entry's
script, SSH key, capture file and folders, and the settings' folders and
theme import. Browse folders, mark several files with `Space` (uploads),
make a folder with `F7`, or press `Tab` to type a path. In an entry's form,
`F2` (or `Ctrl-O`) browses for the field
- **An ANSI viewer** (`Alt-F`, `badterm file.ans`, or drop a file on the
window when not in a call): scroll through art in its own width, font and
colors, with its SAUCE title, artist, group, date and comments (`I`)
- **CP437 and UTF-8** sessions, switchable per entry or live with `Alt-E`
- **RIPscrip** graphics, for RIPterm-era BBSes (set the entry's emulation
to RIPscrip): the 640x350 EGA scenes of lines, shapes, fills, patterns
and text, with the 80x43 text screen over them, and clickable buttons and
mouse areas that send their commands. BadTerm answers the BBS's RIP
query (`ESC [ !`), so the BBS knows to send them. Icons and scene
files are kept in the BBS's folder of its file cache (or found in the
downloads), and the BBS can ask whether you have them. RIP's own file
transfers (XMODEM, YMODEM, Kermit or ZMODEM, started by the BBS) bring
them, and show scenes as they arrive. Text variables (`$DATE$`, `$XY$`,
...) are filled in where buttons and the BBS's queries use them, and a
BBS can define its own, asking you for the value (and keeping it, if it
says to).
- **Sixel graphics**: pictures sent by the BBS (`ESC P q`) are drawn
where the text cursor is, in up to 256 colors, as SyncTERM and xterm
draw them. They scroll with the text, stay in the scrollback, and text
written over them replaces them. BadTerm says it does sixel when asked
(CTerm's attributes, `ESC [ < c`, and the graphics size, `ESC [ ? 2 ; 1 S`).
- **SyncTERM's pictures**, for Synchronet's graphical doors (SyncDoom and
the like): BBSes can store files in a cache on your computer (a folder
per BBS, in BadTerm's cache folder, at most 256 MB each) and draw PPM
and JPEG XL pictures, from it or sent inline, anywhere on the screen,
cropped, flipped, zoomed and masked, and copy and paste pixels. To get
them, BadTerm identifies itself as CTerm (SyncTERM's emulation, revision
1.332) when a BBS asks, and says which of its features it has.
- **AVATAR** (AVT/0 and AVT/0+), the compact codes of Opus, Maximus and
other FidoNet-era BBSes, alongside ANSI: set the entry's emulation to
Avatar
- **Commodore 64 (PETSCII) and Atari 8-bit (ATASCII)** BBSes, set by the
entry's emulation: their 40-column screens, colors, character sets (the
C64's two, switched by the BBS), reverse video and screen-editor codes,
and their keys (Enter, DEL, the cursor keys, the C64's F1 to F8 and
RUN/STOP on `Esc`). The fonts are BadTerm's own, in those machines'
style. The Commodore 128's 80-column screen is there too (the "C128"
emulation: PETSCII on 80x25 in its RGBI colors). Copying their text
gives the characters it shows (the C64's graphics as Unicode's
legacy-computing symbols), and auto-login reads their prompts
- **Viewdata (Prestel)** BBSes, such as Telstar, set by the entry's
emulation: the 40x24 teletext page in its eight colors, with mosaic
block graphics (contiguous and separated, held across color changes),
double height, flashing and concealed text, and the UK character set.
Attributes are worked out from the page as a real decoder does, so a
BBS that rewrites part of a row gets the colors right. Enter sends the
`#` key, and `Alt-K` reveals concealed text (answers to quizzes, say).
**BBC Micro Mode 7**, the BBC's teletext screen, is an emulation of its
own: 40x25, attributes as bytes, a scrolling screen, the BBC's own
characters and keys.
- **IGS**, the graphics of Atari ST BBSes (Instant Graphics and Sound,
version 2.19): VT-52 text and GEM drawing on the ST's screen (medium
resolution, or low with sixteen colors): lines in their styles, widths
and ends, boxes, circles, ellipses, arcs and pie slices, polygons and
flood fills in the VDI's fill patterns and hatches, text in its sizes
and effects, markers, blits, palettes, loops and clickable mouse zones.
The ST's smallest text is in a 6x6 font of BadTerm's own. Color cycling
(`X 8`) animates as on the ST, and a key cuts it, or a pause, short.
Its sound plays too: the twenty built-in effects, chip music, and the
sound chip's own data, on an emulated YM2149; MIDI notes as plain tones,
as BadTerm has no synthesizer.
- **SkyPix**, the graphics of Amiga BBSes (SkyLine's, then C-Net's): ANSI
text in Topaz on the Amiga's 640x200 screen in 16 colors, with SkyPix's
drawing commands: pixels, lines, filled rectangles, ellipses, flood fills,
brushes blitted with the Amiga's minterms, palettes, text placed at any
pixel, delays and mouse clicks. Brushes (IFF pictures) and samples (IFF
8SVX) the BBS sends by XMODEM are used and played. Amiga disk fonts are
your own: copy a font's `name.font` and `name/` folder from a Workbench
disk into the `fonts` folder (`badterm --paths`); without it, the text
is Topaz at about the font's size.
- **Scrollback** of 10,000 lines. Screens cleared by the BBS are kept, so you can
scroll back through menus you've already left.
- **Session capture** to `.ans` files (`Alt-C`), or for an entry from the
start of each call, to a file name of your choosing (`{name}`, `{date}`
and `{time}` are filled in). A `.txt` capture keeps only the text, as a
log.
- **The bell** (Ctrl-G) beeps, flashes the screen, both, or neither, set in
Settings and per directory entry
- **Copy with the mouse**: drag to select text and it is copied when you let
go; hold `Shift` as you let go to copy it with its colors, as ANSI
- **The mouse for the BBS**: a BBS or door that asks for the mouse (xterm's
modes 9, 1000, 1002, 1003, 1006 and 1016, as Synchronet's doors use them)
gets your clicks, drags, movement and wheel, as text cells or pixels.
Hold `Shift` to select and copy text instead. Pasting goes in brackets
(`ESC [ 200 ~` ... `201 ~`) when the BBS asks for that (`CSI ? 2004 h`).
- **Fonts from the BBS**: fonts a BBS sends (CTerm's loadable fonts, 8x16,
8x14 or 8x8, by `DCS`, the older `CSI = n ; n {` or from SyncTERM's
cache) are used where the BBS selects them, stretched to the screen's
cells if their height differs.
- **Save the scrollback** (`Alt-S`) as an `.ans` file for ANSI viewers and
editors, or as plain `.txt`, or save the screen as a `.png`
- **Dialing directory** with add/edit/delete, quick connect, call counts,
last-called dates, pinned favorites, search (`/`), sorting by name,
last called or number of calls (`S`), and groups (`G` shows one at a
time). Each entry can have its own download and upload folders, and
can do without the status line. It starts with
[The Vortex BBS](telnet://vortexbbs.com), the project's home BBS.
- **Passwords in the OS keychain** (Keychain on macOS, Credential Manager on
Windows, the Secret Service on Linux) rather than the directory file. Where
no keychain is available, they stay in the file.
- **Import/export** of SyncTERM `.lst`, CSV, JSON and TOML directories, and
import from NetRunner, EtherTerm, MagiTerm and Qodem (`fonebook.txt`).
Use the dialer, the command line, or drag a file onto the window.
- **ANSI music**: BBS tunes in the BASIC `PLAY` language (`ESC [ N` or
`ESC [ |` up to Ctrl-N) play as PC-speaker square waves. As in BASIC and
SyncTERM, a tune plays in the foreground (`MF`) unless the BBS says `MB`:
what the BBS sends after it waits until it ends. `Alt-M` turns it off,
or also on for `ESC [ M`, which many doors use but which otherwise means
"delete a line"
- **SyncTERM's sound**, for Synchronet's doors: sound effects and music the
BBS sends (WAV, AIFF, VOC, FLAC, MP3, and Ogg Opus or Vorbis, from the
cache or inline) or has BadTerm synthesize, on 16 channels mixed together with
fades, loops, crossfades and volume, as CTerm documents them. Long music
is decoded in the background, so the screen doesn't wait for it.
`Alt-M`'s "off" silences these too
- **Phosphor mode** (`Alt-P`): the look of a CRT, with glowing text,
scanlines and curved glass, in color or as a green or amber monochrome
monitor, for every BBS or chosen per directory entry. How much the text
glows, how strong the scanlines are and how curved the glass is are each
set in Settings. It starts off, with crisp pixels; turned on, it is a
color CRT with a light glow, medium scanlines and flat glass. BadTerm
starts with 8-dot characters and square pixels, fitted to the window in
its own shape
- **VGA-accurate display options**: 9-dot character cells, where the
line-drawing characters join up as they did on a VGA (`Alt-W`), and the
4:3 shape of a CRT instead of square pixels (`Alt-A`). Entries can use
40-column, 80x28 (in the VGA's 8x14 font), 80x30, 80x43, 80x50, 80x60
and 132-column screen modes; the Amiga and code-page fonts come at
every height.
- **Your own fonts**: put `.fnt` (`.f08`, `.f14`, `.f16`) or `.psf` font
files in the `fonts` folder (`badterm --paths`) and choose one as an
entry's font.
- **Baud rate emulation**, per entry (300 to 115200 bps): text arrives at
the speed it was drawn for, so ANSI animations play as intended.
ZMODEM transfers still run at full speed.
- **The window**: the screen fills it, keeping its shape, and when you
resize the window it settles into that shape too, so there are no
borders (Settings, Scaling, also offers whole-number steps for exact
pixels, or stretching). Fullscreen (`Alt-Enter`) and maximized windows
fill the screen. BadTerm opens at the size and place you left it.
- Clipboard paste (`Alt-V`, `Shift-Ins`)
## Installing
Downloads are on the [website](https://badterm.com/) and the
[releases page](https://git.badcluster.dev/arelas/badterm/releases).
- **Windows**: run `badterm-…-windows-x64-setup.exe` (it and `badterm.exe`
are code signed). It installs for you
alone without administrator rights (or for everyone, if you choose), adds
BadTerm to the Start menu and opens `telnet://`, `telnets://` and
`rlogin://` links with it. Or unzip `badterm-…-windows-x64.zip` and run
`badterm.exe` from anywhere. For installing on many PCs (Intune, Group
Policy, SCCM), `badterm-…-windows-x64.msi` installs for everyone with
no questions: `msiexec /i badterm-…-windows-x64.msi /qn`, adding
`ADDLOCAL=Main` to leave the link handlers out. A newer MSI replaces an
older one.
- **macOS**: open `badterm-…-macos-arm64.dmg` and drag BadTerm to
Applications. It is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by
Apple, so it opens like any other app. It opens `telnet://` links once it
has been run.
- **Linux**: install `badterm-…-linux-x64.deb` (Debian, Ubuntu) or
`badterm-…-linux-x64.rpm` (Fedora, RHEL, openSUSE), for example with
`sudo apt install ./badterm-…-linux-x64.deb`. They, the AppImage and the
tarball need glibc 2.28 or newer: Debian 10, Ubuntu 20.04, RHEL 8 and
later. Or use the AppImage, which runs on most distributions: `chmod +x` it and run it. The tarball has the
bare program, plus `badterm.desktop` and `badterm.png` for adding it to
your menus by hand (copy them to `~/.local/share/applications/` and
`~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/`).
## Building
Install Rust (stable, 1.89 or newer) from <https://rustup.rs>, then:
```sh
cargo build --release
./target/release/badterm
```
No extra system libraries are required on Linux: X11 and Wayland are both
supported, and they and ALSA (for sound) are loaded at run time.
## Usage
BadTerm opens with its splash screen for two seconds (any key skips it;
Settings, General turns it off),
then a start-up banner with the version, as terminal programs did.
```
badterm start, not connected (Alt-D opens the dialing directory)
badterm bbs.example.org connect directly (also host:port,
telnet://host:port, telnets://host:port,
rlogin://user@host, raw://host:port,
ssh://user@host:port)
badterm --import syncterm.lst add entries from a SyncTERM, NetRunner (.phn),
Qodem (fonebook.txt), MagiTerm or EtherTerm
directory, a CSV list (ours, or the Telnet BBS
Guide's bbslist.csv), JSON or TOML
badterm --export bbses.csv write the directory (format from extension)
badterm --paths show where data is stored (settings,
directory, captures, downloads, themes,
bezels, known hosts, the BBS file cache)
badterm --render art.ans out.png
draw an ANSI file to a PNG (add --screen for
just the last 80x25 screen, --crt color|green|
amber, --glow, --scanlines, --curvature, --nine-dot,
--aspect, --font for Amiga art, --bezel)
```
On Windows, BadTerm is a GUI program, so `cmd` doesn't wait for it and its
command-line output can appear after the next prompt. Use
`start /wait badterm --help` in `cmd`, or run it from PowerShell.
### Dialing directory keys
Open the dialing directory with `Alt-D` (`Cmd-D` on macOS) at any time. If you
are connected, the call stays up behind it, and dialing another BBS asks
whether to call it in a new tab (`T`) or hang up and dial it (`Y`); see
[Tabs](#tabs). `Alt-N` opens it to call straight into a new tab.
| `Enter` | Dial the selected entry |
| `Ins` / `A` | Add an entry |
| `E` / `F2` | Edit the selected entry |
| `Del` / `D` | Remove the selected entry |
| `P` | Pin or unpin the entry (pinned entries are listed first) |
| `/`, `F3`, `Ctrl-F` | Search by name, address, comment or group (`Enter` dials, `Esc` clears) |
| `S` | Sort by name, last called, or number of calls |
| `G` | Show one group of entries, then the next, then all |
| `M` | The entry's own keyboard macros |
| `Q` | Quick connect to an address |
| `I` / `X` | Import / export a directory file |
| letter or digit | Jump to the next entry starting with it |
| `Esc` | Close the dialing directory |
### Tabs
Up to nine calls can be open at once, each in a tab of its own. `Alt-N` opens
the dialing directory to call a BBS in a new tab; dialing from `Alt-D` during a
call asks whether to do that (`T`) or to hang up and dial in its place (`Y`).
`Alt-T` shows the next call and `Shift-Alt-T` the one before, and `Alt-H`
hangs up the call on screen and closes its tab.
With more than one call open, the status bar starts with a number for each,
the one on screen highlighted; click one to show it. Calls off screen carry
on: they receive, run their scripts and macros, redial, and finish their
transfers. A `*` by a number means that call has sent something new since you
last looked, and a `!` that it wants you: it rang the bell, asked for a login
or an upload, finished a transfer, or hung up (the status bar says which).
Only the call on screen plays music, though a bell off screen still beeps.
Each call keeps its own place in the scrollback, and `Alt-X` asks before
hanging them all up.
### Hotkeys
Every client command is on `Alt` (on macOS, `Cmd`, since Option types
characters there). Every `Ctrl` key, `Ctrl-D` included, always goes to the BBS.
| `Alt-D` | Open or close the dialing directory |
| `Alt-N` | Call a BBS in a new tab (opens the dialing directory; the calls open stay connected) |
| `Alt-T` | Show the next tab (`Shift-Alt-T`: the one before) |
| `Alt-H` | Hang up (or clear a finished call from the screen), closing its tab |
| `Alt-R` | Call again (after a hang-up, or now while a redial is waiting) |
| `Alt-L` | Send the entry's user name; again for the password |
| `Alt-1` ... `Alt-0` | Keyboard macros (set them in Settings, `Alt-O`, or an entry's own with `M` in the directory) |
| `Alt-J` | Run a script, or stop the one running |
| `Alt-B`, `Shift-PgUp`, mouse wheel | Scrollback (arrows, `PgUp`/`PgDn`, `Home`; any other key returns) |
| `Alt-I` | Toggle iCE colors / blinking |
| `Alt-E` | Toggle CP437 / UTF-8 |
| `Alt-K` | Reveal concealed text (Viewdata and Mode 7) |
| `Alt-C` | Start/stop capturing to a file |
| `Alt-S` | Save the scrollback (`.ans`, `.txt`) or the screen (`.png`) |
| drag with the mouse | Copy the selected text (`Shift` on release: as ANSI) |
| `Alt-U` | Upload files: ZMODEM, YMODEM, XMODEM or Kermit (or drop files on the window) |
| `Alt-G` | Download with YMODEM, XMODEM or Kermit (ZMODEM and Kermit downloads start by themselves) |
| `Alt-V`, `Shift-Ins` | Paste from the clipboard |
| `Alt-Enter` | Toggle fullscreen (fills the screen, keeping the shape) |
| `Alt-P` | Phosphor mode: off, color CRT, green screen, amber screen |
| `Alt-A` | Aspect ratio: square pixels, 4:3 as on a CRT, 16:10, 16:9 |
| `Alt-W` | 9-dot or 8-dot character cells |
| `Alt-M` | Sound and music (ANSI music and SyncTERM's sound): on, on including `ESC [ M`, off |
| `Alt-O` | Settings, and the interface colors |
| `Alt-F` | View ANSI art: a file picker, then the art with its SAUCE details |
| `Alt-Z` | Help: every key on one page |
| `Alt-X` | Exit (asks first; `Y` or `Alt-X` again to confirm) |
`Alt-P`, `Alt-A`, `Alt-W` and `Alt-M` work anywhere, including in the dialing
directory, and are remembered in `settings.toml`, as are the window's size,
place (not on Wayland, which places windows itself) and whether it was
maximized, for the next start. An entry's "Screen mode"
can be 80x25, 80x28 (the VGA's 8x14 font), 80x30, 80x43, 80x50, 80x60,
40x25, 132x25, 132x37 or 132x52 (43 lines or more in the 8x8 font), and its "Phosphor mode" can override `Alt-P` for that
BBS. While connected to a BBS with its own phosphor mode, `Alt-P` changes
that BBS's mode rather than the global one. Its "iCE colors" setting is Auto (the BBS
turns them on with `CSI ?33h`, as before), On or Off; with On or Off, `Alt-I`
changes that BBS's setting too.
`Alt-O` (or `O` in the dialing directory) opens the settings, on five
tabs (`Tab` and `Shift-Tab`, or `PgUp`/`PgDn`, move between them).
**Folders** sets where downloads, captures and saved screens go and where
the upload and ANSI-art pickers start (`Enter` to choose a folder, `Del` for
the default). The others: phosphor
mode, its glow (off, light, medium or strong: how much bright text lights
the dark around it), its scanlines (off, light, medium or strong) and the
curve of its glass (off for a flat screen, slight, medium or strong), the aspect ratio,
scaling (fit keeping the shape; auto, which is whole numbers in a window
and fit in full screen; always whole numbers; or stretch to fill),
character cells, sound and music, the bell (a beep, a flash of the screen, both
or neither; an entry can have its own), redialing, the modem (see "Dialing
with a modem" below), and the colors of BadTerm's own screens. Pick one of the color schemes (BadTerm, the
default, in the colors of its logo: cyan, light blue and gold on black;
Midnight, Classic blue, Gray windows, Green phosphor, Amber, Monochrome,
Ocean, Crimson, Plum, Dark blue and Dark cyan, which have no colored
backgrounds, Bad Cluster, in the copper and teal of badcluster.dev, or Dark
Dracula, Dracula's colors on black), or,
under "Edit
colors", give each part of the interface (title bar, selected entry,
windows, input fields, key hints, ...) its own foreground and background
from a grid of the 16 x 8 combinations, as in QModem and Telix. Changes
show and are saved straight away; in the grid, `Esc` undoes the last part.
"Keyboard macros" sets what `Alt-1` to `Alt-0` send, written as in Telix
and QModem: `^M` is Enter, `^[` Esc and `^A` to `^Z` the other control
keys, `~` waits half a second, and `{user}` and `{password}` are the
directory entry's. `{user}^M~{password}^M`, for example, logs in. A
directory entry can have its own: `M` on it in the directory sets them,
and where one of its own is empty, the one in Settings is sent.
### Scripts
A script logs in, or finds its way around a BBS, as Telix's SALT and
Qodem's scripts did. Scripts are written in [Rhai](https://rhai.rs), kept
in the `scripts` folder (`badterm --paths` shows where), and run either by
naming one as an entry's **Script** (it runs once the call connects) or
with `Alt-J` during a call (`Alt-J` again stops it). They read what the
BBS sends as plain text, without its ANSI codes:
```rust
if wait("Login:", 20) { // seconds; false if it never came
send(user() + "\r"); // the entry's user name
wait("Password:"); // 30 seconds when no time is given
send(password() + "\r");
}
let which = wait_any(["[Y/n]", "Main Menu"], 30); // which came, or -1
if which == 0 { send("n"); }
sleep(0.5);
notify("Logged in to " + bbs()); // on the status line, as print() is
```
`screen()` gives the text on the screen, a line per row, and `hangup()`
ends the call. [extras/scripts/login.rhai](extras/scripts/login.rhai) is a
login script for most boards.
"Hotkeys" moves any of the `Alt` (`Cmd`) keys to another letter: choose
one, press `Enter`, then the new letter. One that had that letter takes the
old one, and `Del` puts a key back. The screens and help follow the change.
"New entries' font" and "New entries' screen" are what an entry you add
(or an address you call that isn't in the directory) starts with.
Color themes can be shared. "Save as a theme" writes the current colors to
a file in the `themes` folder (`badterm --paths` shows where), and "Import
a theme" copies someone else's file there and switches to it. Every theme
in the folder is in the color scheme list. A theme is a small TOML file,
easy to edit by hand; parts it leaves out keep the default colors:
```toml
name = "Sunrise"
author = "sysop"
[colors]
title_bar = { fg = "yellow", bg = "red" }
selected = { fg = "black", bg = "brown" }
window = { fg = "white", bg = "magenta" }
```
The colors are black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, brown, light gray,
dark gray, light blue, light green, light cyan, light red, light magenta,
yellow and white. The parts are `title_bar`, `border`, `headings`,
`entries`, `selected`, `info`, `help`, `help_key`, `status`, `status_alt`,
`window`, `window_title`, `window_text`, `field_name`, `field_value`,
`input`, `keys`, `note` and `error`.
A theme can also bring its own 16 colors, in place of the VGA's, for
BadTerm's screens (the BBS's keep theirs), as the Bad Cluster scheme does:
`palette = ["#0E1015", "#161922", ...]` under `[colors]`, sixteen
`#RRGGBB` colors in the order above.
More themes, and more bezels, are on the website's
[extras page](https://badterm.com/extras.html), from the
[extras](extras/README.md) folder here, where you can add your own.
"Monitor bezel" draws a monitor around the screen: a beige 1980s monitor,
a platinum 1990s one, a charcoal late-1990s one, or a terminal (original
designs, not any maker's). The picture then fills the monitor's 4:3 screen,
as it did on the real thing; it looks best with phosphor mode on. For your
own, put a PNG in the `bezels` folder, with the screen area see-through
(transparent): BadTerm finds the screen from the transparent part in the
middle and draws the terminal there. A photo of your own old monitor works
well.
"Check for updates" is off unless you turn it on. When it is on, BadTerm
asks git.badcluster.dev for the newest release once each time it starts
(one HTTPS request, with nothing in it but BadTerm's version), and if
there is a newer one says so on the status bar and the start screen, with
a link to the website. It never downloads or installs anything itself.
Downloads are saved to `Downloads/BadTerm`; `badterm --paths` shows every
location BadTerm uses.
For SSH entries, set the user name in the entry. Many BBSes accept a user
like `new` or `guest` and then run their own login. BadTerm logs in with:
1. "none", which is all most BBSes need;
2. public keys: the entry's "SSH key file" (asking for its passphrase if it
has one), then your SSH agent (`SSH_AUTH_SOCK`; on Windows the OpenSSH
agent service or Pageant), then unencrypted `~/.ssh/id_ed25519`,
`id_ecdsa` and `id_rsa`. Encrypted default keys are skipped rather than
asking for a passphrase on every BBS that offers key logins: add them to
your agent, or name one in the entry;
3. keyboard-interactive or password, using the entry's password if there is
one and asking otherwise (or when it is refused). The login dialog can
remember the password for next time (`Tab`).
Entries with a user name log in by themselves over telnet (the entry's
"Auto-login" setting): once the BBS pauses at a prompt such as `Login:`,
`User name:` or Synchronet's `NN:`, BadTerm sends the user name, and then
the password at `Password:`. It answers each once, only in the first two
minutes of a call, and never sends the password before the user name.
`Alt-L` sends them by hand instead, one press each.
A BBS that can't be reached, or that answers and hangs up straight away
saying it is busy, is called again every 15 seconds, up to 10 times; `Esc`
stops it and `Alt-R` calls at once. Set `redial = false` in
`settings.toml` to turn this off.
Telnet over TLS checks the BBS's certificate against the usual certificate
authorities. Many BBSes use self-signed certificates, so one that fails
that check is trusted on first use and pinned in `tls_known_hosts` (beside
`known_hosts`), and a later, different certificate is refused; so is a
self-signed certificate from a BBS whose certificate an authority signed
before.
RLogin sends the entry's password as the "client user name" and its user
name as the "server user name", as SyncTERM does, which is how Synchronet
and other BBSes log RLogin callers in.
### Dialing with a modem
BadTerm dials out through a modem on a serial port, a USB modem, a WiFi
modem, or anything that acts like one (tcpser, for example). In Settings,
on the Modem tab, set the serial port (`/dev/ttyUSB0`, `/dev/cu.usbmodem…`,
`COM3`; `Enter` types it, `←` `→` step through the ports found), the speed
between the computer and the modem, the flow control (RTS/CTS for almost
every modem), the init string (`ATZ`, or `AT&F`) and the dial command
(`ATDT` for tone, `ATDP` for pulse). Then give a directory entry the
protocol Modem and the phone number as its address.
Calling it shows the modem's replies as it dials. BUSY, NO ANSWER and the
like are redialed as a busy BBS is; the call ends when the carrier drops
(DCD, or NO CARRIER where the port doesn't report it), and `Alt-H` drops
DTR, then sends `+++` and `ATH0`.
### Emulations
An entry's "Emulation" sets how what the BBS sends is shown: CP437
(ANSI-BBS, the usual), UTF-8, Avatar (AVT/0 and AVT/0+ alongside ANSI),
RIPscrip (graphics: click a button or mouse area to send its command; the
text screen is 80x43 over the 640x350 graphics), PETSCII (Commodore 64:
F1 to F8 are the C64's, `Esc` is RUN/STOP), C128 (the Commodore 128's
80 columns), ATASCII (Atari 8-bit),
Viewdata (Prestel: Enter is the `#` key), Mode 7 (BBC Micro), IGS (Atari
ST) or SkyPix (Amiga).
Passwords you enter in the directory, remember from the login dialog, or
import with a SyncTERM list are moved into the OS keychain when the
directory is saved. Exported directories don't include them.
Keys are sent the way ANSI-BBS software expects: arrows as `ESC [ A..D`,
`Home`/`End` as `ESC [ H` / `ESC [ K`, `PgUp`/`PgDn` as `ESC [ V` / `ESC [ U`,
`Ins` as `ESC [ @` and `Del` as DEL. The other emulations send their own
machine's keys: the C64's and Atari's codes, a Prestel keyboard's (`Enter`
is `#`), the BBC Micro's (`Delete` is DEL, the arrows 0x88 to 0x8B), and
the Atari ST's VT-52 arrows (`ESC A..D`).
## Website
`site/` holds the website: the home page, the help page and the extras
page of themes and bezels (built from `extras/`); see
[site/README.md](site/README.md).
## Project layout
```
crates/badterm-core front-end independent library: CP437, screen model,
ANSI parser and the other emulations (RIPscrip,
Avatar, PETSCII, ATASCII, Viewdata, IGS, SkyPix),
sixel and SyncTERM's pictures and sound, telnet, SSH
and modems, transfers, dialing directory, sessions
crates/badterm the windowed client (winit + softbuffer): renderer,
phosphor mode, the sound mixer, text-mode dialer and
settings
extras/ themes and bezels offered for download
site/ the website
packaging/ installers and packages (Windows, macOS, Linux)
```
`badterm-core` has no GUI dependencies, so it can drive other front ends
(a TUI, a headless bot, a test harness) as well.
## Testing
```sh
cargo test
```
The ZMODEM interoperability tests run against lrzsz's `sz` and `rz` when
they are installed (`apt install lrzsz`, `brew install lrzsz`), and the
Kermit ones against C-Kermit (`apt install ckermit`); they are skipped
otherwise. CI sets `BADTERM_REQUIRE_LRZSZ=1` and `BADTERM_REQUIRE_KERMIT=1`
so they can't be skipped there. On Linux, a fake modem on a
pseudo-terminal tests dialing. In CI on Windows and macOS, saving passwords in the
OS keychain is tested too.
To render sample frames to images for visual inspection:
```sh
BADTERM_SNAPSHOT_DIR=/tmp/shots cargo test -p badterm snapshot -- --ignored
```
The extras' previews (and the bezels themselves) are drawn the same way;
see [extras/README.md](extras/README.md).
## License
Copyright (C) 2026 Bad Cluster.
BadTerm is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License,
version 3 or (at your option) any later version. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).
The bundled VGA fonts come from DOSBox (GPL-2.0-or-later), and the Amiga
fonts from TrueSchool's collection (GPL with the font exception), the
code-page fonts from Synchronet's SyncTERM (LGPL-2.1-or-later); the C64,
Atari and 6x6 fonts are BadTerm's own. See
[crates/badterm/assets/fonts/README.md](crates/badterm/assets/fonts/README.md)
and [crates/badterm-core/assets/README.md](crates/badterm-core/assets/README.md).
IGS's fill patterns, line styles and markers are the GEM VDI's, as EmuTOS
(GPL-2.0-or-later) defines them. Its sound effects' data is from IcyTerm
(Apache-2.0), played with the `ym2149` and `ym2149-gist-replayer` crates
(MIT).
The website uses IBM Plex, under the SIL Open Font License
([site/fonts/OFL.txt](site/fonts/OFL.txt)).