If you have a terminal program installed, like the macOS Terminal app, click on the above image to telnet to the Armageddon BBS. Clicking on the above image should result in your terminal/telnet client being launched/started on your computer, if everything is set up properly on your end. This is normal behavior, so don't be alarmed when your terminal/client runs.


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MuffinTerm and macOS Terminal Comparison


Copyright © 2024 Bill Kochman

Published On :
March 25, 2024

Last Updated :
April 2, 2024


Greetings fellow BBSers! Recently, an online friend and fellow BBSer suggested that I download the free terminal/telnet app from Apple's App Store called MuffinTerm, and use that as my telnet client instead of the built-in macOS Terminal app, as I have been doing for some time now. So, out of respect to him, and perhaps also due to a bit of curiosity on my part, I downloaded MuffinTerm, and then compared how the Armageddon BBS's ANSI screens look in both apps. Below are seven screen captures which tell the tale.

Please note that I had to shrink these images in size considerably -- sometimes over 50% -- so that they would all be the same width on this web page. Let me also say that with regards to the macOS Terminal screen captures, the ANSI screens are actually much brighter than what you see here. I guess Firefox has something to do with that.

This first image shows the Latest Statistics screen during the logon sequence, as seen in MuffinTerm. The first thing you will notice is that for some reason, MuffinTerm adds extra linefeeds in two places, even though they are not found in the original ANSI document. All of my ANSI screens are 80 characters or less in width, so these blank lines are not due to line wrap. Also, one of the first things I noticed when I launched MuffinTerm, is that all of its colors are drab, dirty and pretty lifeless. The colors are nothing compared to what I see in the macOS Terminal, or in the Hermes II BBS software itself.



Below is the very same Latest Statistics screen as seen in the macOS Terminal app. As you can see, there are no extra linefeeds/blank lines at all. Likewise, the macOS Terminal shows the true color -- yellow -- of the statistics, exactly as it is seen in the Hermes II BBS software as well. The colors here also look a little more vibrant and bright compared to MuffinTerm. But as I said, they are in fact much brighter than this in the macOS Terminal, as well as in Hermes itself.




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Below is a screen capture of our BBS List during the logon sequence, as viewed in MuffinTerm. Once again it inserts an extra linefeed, and the colors are drab.



Below is the same BBS List as viewed in the macOS Terminal. Again, the screen appears exactly the same as it does in Hermes II, with no extra linefeeds, and brighter, livelier colors.




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With these next two screens, it gets even worse for MuffinTerm. The screen below shows the top half of the Download screen. MuffinTerm just totally butchers it with eleven extra linefeeds, even though those linefeeds are not present in the actual ANSI document. Let me remind you again that all of my ANSI screens are 80 characters or less in width, so the issue is not with my ANSI codes.



Below is the bottom half of the Armageddon BBS Download screen. Again, MuffinTerm inserts nine extra linefeeds which do not exist in the actual ANSI document.



Now comes the surprise. Below is how our Download screen actually looks in both the macOS Terminal app, as well as in Hermes II itself. In other words, unlike MuffinTerm which splits this screen into TWO parts, with the top half zipping off the top of MuffinTerm's window so that I don't even see it, the macOS Terminal displays it properly as ONE screen about 22 rows in height, and about 80 characters in width.



So there you have it: just three ANSI screens to show how MuffinTerm and the macOS Terminal each display my BBS's ANSI screens on my 2019 27" 5K iMac. There are problems with some of my other ANSI screens in MuffinTerm as well, but of the screens I have created thus far, these three have the most problems.

It is obvious to me that the macOS Terminal app is the winner here, because it faithfully reproduces all of my BBS's screens exactly as they look in Hermes II. In fact, even better, because Hermes' terminal window is so darn small. One thing I am curious about is whether or not other MuffinTerm users see my ANSI screens as I have shared them here. Do you, or do they look normal to you? It is possible that the screens display wrong in MuffinTerm because I am logging on to my BBS locally, just as I do with the macOS Terminal. If you are a MuffinTerm user, I would be interested in your feedback. Thanks!

At any rate, while I appreciate my friend's suggestion, I think I will be sticking with the macOS Terminal. I really see no need to switch to something else. Of course, YMMV.


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Tools to Compile Hermes II BBS Source for Mac Classic

Click the blue link on the left side to either go to that page, or to download that particular file.

Hermes II Compilation: Online detailed guide to compile Hermes II BBS source code on a macOS machine with SheepShaver -- or Qemu or Basilisk -- and Mac Classic installed.
Hermes II 3.5.11 Source: Version 03-16-2024 - Latest source code for compiling the Hermes II 3.5.11 binary from Michael Alyn Miller. Must be converted on the macOS side first.
Hermes II 3.5.11 Working Folder: Version 03-16-2024 - Hermes II 3.5.11 "Working" folder. Ready to be compiled with THINK Pascal. Already converted by Michael Alyn Miller.
Think Pascal 4.0.2: Disk images to install THINK Pascal 4.0.2 in SheepShaver, Qemu or Basilisk.
ShrinkWrap 2.1: You may need ShrinkWrap 2.1 to extract some files in Mac Classic.
VirtualCD Imager 1.0d0: You may need VirtualCD Imager 1.0d0 to extract some files in Mac Classic.
Floppy Disk Image: You may need this Floppy Disk Image to create images in Mac Classic.
Hermes II BBS: GitHub: Repository for Hermes II BBS source code.
Hermes II 3.5.2 Documentation: Hermes II 3.5.2 documentation in PDF format.
Public Address Stripped: Stripped down version of Public Address BBS to preview your ANSI art or to telnet.

Armageddon BBS Tutorials

These are a set of eight tutorials related to my Hermes II BBS setup which I wrote back in 2015. A lot has changed in the computer world since that time. Thus, while much of the information which is contained in these tutorials is still relevant, there may be bits and pieces here and there which no longer apply to a particular situation or setup.

Main Menu Tutorial: Step-by-step guide to using Armageddon BBS main menu commands.
Posting & Editing Msgs: Step-by-step guide to posting and editing messages on Armageddon BBS.
Transfer Menu Tutorial: Step-by-step guide to using Armageddon BBS file transfer menu commands.
Download Files Tutorial: Step-by-step guide to downloading files on the Armageddon BBS.
Fix Flipping Screens: Step-by-step guide to fix flipping screens on the Armageddon BBS.
Choose a PC-ANSI Font: Step-by-step guide to choosing a PC-ANSI font for the Armageddon BBS.
OS X Terminal Settings: Step-by-step guide to manually adjust macOS Terminal app for BBSing [HTML]
VirtualBox Setup: Detailed guide to set up VirtualBox, Mountain Lion and SheepShaver.
Files Areas and Files: Armageddon File Areas and Files List 04-02-24. [TEXT]

Assorted Armageddon BBS Images

Logon Sequence Map: This image shows you what happens after you log on to the Armageddon BBS.
More BBS ANSI Screens: These are ten 2015 PC-ANSI graphics logon screens from Armageddon BBS.
VirtualBox-SheepShaver Screenshots: Two 2015 screenshots of my VirtualBox, SheepShaver, Mac OS 9.0.4 setup.
Armageddon BBS Tutorials Header Images: These are four 2015 header images I used on some of my Armageddon BBS tutorial pages.
MuffinTerm and macOS Terminal Comparison: This page shows seven images which reveal how the Armageddon BBS looks when viewed in the free macOS terminal/telnet app called MuffinTerm, and in the built-in macOS Terminal app when I log on locally.


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Emaculation Support Forums

If you need help setting up SheepShaver, Qemu or Basilisk II so that you can run Mac Classic OS and your Hermes II BBS on a modern Macintosh, these forums are the place to go. They will offer you all the assistance you need, as they did with me.

SheepShaver Forum: Help to set up the SheepShaver emulator on macOS, Windows and Linux.
Qemu Forum: Help to set up the Qemu emulator on macOS, Windows and Linux.
Basilisk II Forum: Help to set up the Basilisk emulator II on macOS , Windows and Linux.

Qemu Emulator for macOS

Click the blue link on the left side to download that particular file. If you have any questions or problems with installing and using Qemu, please refer to the Emaculation Qemu Forum. People such as Cat_7 and Ronald P. Regensburg will be happy to help you with installing Qemu on your machine.

Qemu System PPC 8.2 for macOS - Virtio: 20-01-2024 Qemu System PPC 8.2 for macOS with sound and virtio support. Virtio options require a Mac OS 9 guest. Experimental build.
Qemu System PPC 8.2 for macOS - Screamer: 20-01-2024 Qemu System PPC 8.2 for macOS with sound support. Screamer version. Stable build.
Qemu System PPC 7.1 for macOS - Pre-Screamer: 29-05-2022 Qemu System PPC 7.1 for macOS with sound support, 60Hz screen refresh and FPU speedup. Pre-Screamer version.

IMPORTANT: Please note that using Qemu does require that you have a compatible ROM file, as well as a retail version of a Classic Mac OS install CD, or else an install CD disk image. Due to legal reasons, I am not able to provide them here. However, Google is your friend, and if you search hard enough, you WILL find that which you seek.

NOTE: After using both Sheepshaver and Qemu, even though it is a little more complicated to set up, I recommend using Qemu over Sheepshaver, because even though Qemu is not as established as SheepShaver, it is a lot more stable. Both my BBS and Hotline server run simultaneously on it.

SheepShaver Emulator for macOS

Click the blue link on the left side to download that particular file. If you have any questions or problems with installing and using SheepShaver, please refer to the Emaculation SheepShaver Forum. People such as Cat_7 and Ronald P. Regensburg will be happy to help you with installing SheepShaver on your machine.

SheepShaver 2.5.0 2024-02-28 Universal: Universal version - Will run natively on both Intel Macs and Apple Silicon machines. Recommended for macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) through macOS 14 (Sonoma).
SheepShaver 2.5.0 2023-05-12 Wrapper Version: Wrapper version - This Mac OS X / macOS version of SheepShaver does NOT require that you have VirtualBox or another emulator on your Mac OS X or macOS machine.
SheepShaver 2.5.0 2022-09-13 Universal: Universal version - Will run natively on both Intel Macs and Apple Silicon machines. Recommended for macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) through macOS 12 (Monterey).
SheepShaver 2.5.0 2019-05-04 64-Bit Intel: 64-Bit Intel version - Recommended for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) through macOS 10.12 (Sierra).
SheepShaver 2.4.0 2018-07-09 32-Bit Intel: 32-Bit Intel version - Recommended for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) through MacOSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
SheepShaver 2.4.0 2014-02-01 Universal Binary: Universal Binary version - Recommended for PPC Macs running OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and later.
SheepShaver 2.3.0 2006-05-14 32-Bit PPC: 32-Bit PPC version - Requires that you have VirtualBox or another emulator on your Mac OS X or macOS machine.

IMPORTANT: Please note that using SheepShaver does require that you have a compatible ROM file, as well as a retail version of a Classic Mac OS install CD, or else an install CD disk image. Due to legal reasons, I am not able to provide them here. However, Google is your friend, and if you search hard enough, you WILL find that which you seek.

Basilisk II Emulator for macOS

Click the blue link on the left side to download that particular file. If you have any questions or problems with installing and using Basilisk II, please refer to the Emaculation Basilisk II Forum. People such as Cat_7 and Ronald P. Regensburg will be happy to help you with installing Qemu on your machine.

28-02-2024 Basilisk II Universal Build: Will run natively on both Intel and Apple Silicon. Recommended for macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) through macOS 14 (Sonoma).
01-08-2021 Basilisk II Universal Build: Recommended for Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) through macOS 10.12 (Sierra).
04-05-2019 Basilisk II Intel Build: Reommended for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) through macOS 10.12 (Sierra).

IMPORTANT: Please note that using Basilisk II does require that you have a compatible ROM file, as well as a retail version of a Classic Mac OS install CD, or else an install CD disk image. Due to legal reasons, I am not able to provide them here. However, Google is your friend, and if you search hard enough, you WILL find that which you seek.

Other Tools and Resources

Please telnet to my old-school PC-ANSI based BBS called "Armageddon BBS", or use a Hotline client to visit the "Armageddon Server" on Hotline.

Underline HL Client PPC: Version 1.9.5 - Use on Mac Classic to connect to Armageddon Server on Hotline.
PPC Hotline Client: Version 1.9.2 - Use on Mac PPC to connect to Armageddon Server on Hotline.
PPC Hotline Server: Version 1.9.1 - Create your own Hotline server with this Carbon/PPC software.
Underline HL Client: Version 1.9.5 - Use on Windows to connect to Armageddon Server on Hotline.
Telnet on Windows: This images shows how to start telneting on Windows 7 and 8.
Telnet BBS Guide: How To Access Telnet BBS Systems [mainly for Windows]


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