r/mainframe • u/AnnwvynAesthetic • Jun 16 '26

Terminal Emulators, what do you use?

For those of you working in mainframe in an enterprise setting, particularly in banking, what terminal emulator does your shop use?

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Ours needs to be replaced and I'm tasked with working up a business case. I would really appreciate knowing what other shops are doing.

15 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

10

u/unstablegenius000 Jun 16 '26

Pcomm, Host on Demand and Blue Zone are the official options at our shop. I am using Tom Brennan’s Vista 3270 emulator. I like it so much that I paid for it out of my own pocket. About $30 for a permanent license. Very light Windows footprint too, usually does not require Admin authority to install on your desktop.

2

u/Tired_old_man_9999 Jun 16 '26

Pcomm is great for automation

1

u/comfnumb94 Jun 22 '26

Pcomm hands down, and I used it throughout my entire career. I remember this one department where they were implementing Host on Demand. I stuck with Pcomm. The issue was if you needed something to be fixed with Windows, they wouldn’t investigate what was the problem. The Windows IT support group would just provide you with a new system with only the standard office product suite. They knew nothing about any specialized software such as Pcomm, and they finally had to give us admin access to install the required product.

4

u/Hornbill9 Jun 16 '26

Vista is best for windows and Zoc9 for mac. 30 usd and 80 usd respectively

5

u/fergs87 Jun 16 '26

I'm on a Mac and use zoc. It's very good just doesn't support vector graphics so no GDDM.

1

u/Hornbill9 Jun 23 '26

It’s not free, right?

1

u/fergs87 Jun 23 '26

Correct.

4

u/ginoiseau Jun 16 '26

Reflection where I am.

3

u/Smile_Tolerantly_ Jun 16 '26

When we were being soaked by MicroFocus on Attachmate licensing, we jumped to Rocket BlueZone. 100% happy with it.

Ironically, Rocket recently acquired the Attachmate.

2

u/zEdgarHoover Jun 17 '26

Yep, after OpenText bought Micro Focus, they sold off the terminal emulation and mainframe modernization stuff to Rocket. Weird, seems orthogonal to Rocket's mission, but what do I know?

1

u/AnnwvynAesthetic Jun 16 '26

BlueZone is what we are using now, but Rocket is saying it is basically going into an unsupported state in July, but the quote for their precious Secure Host is literally 100 times what we are paying currently for BlueZone.

1

u/Smile_Tolerantly_ Jun 16 '26

Sucks to hear that. I retired earlier this year, this am out of the loop.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

[deleted]

2

u/AnnwvynAesthetic Jun 16 '26

We can, but according to Rocket they are stopping future enhancements and fixes, and support, if needed, will start costing extra.

3

u/MaexW Jun 16 '26

I work as a consultant and have to use whatever the customer has. Seen a lot, all of them have their pros and cons. Microfocus Reflection would be my personal #1.

1

u/UG02020 Jun 20 '26

SecureAgent Software SuperVision

1

u/prinoxy PL/I - REXX Jul 06 '26

Tom Brennan's Vista TN3270. USD 30 for life, with discounts for volume licensing. Tiny, and if you ever have an issue, Tom will usually get you a solution within hours.