Lantern Terminal

Lantern Terminal is a desktop terminal and saved-connection manager for Windows and Linux. Version 0.6.0 includes SSH2 (with a built-in SSH engine), an SFTP Browser, Remote Desktop (RDP), Telnet, RLogin, raw TCP, serial ports and local shells, a BBS Directory, with tabs that can be torn off into their own windows, session folders synced between computers, visual colour selection, logging and Python/Lua scripting.

Download installers and source code

1. Install Lantern Terminal and launch it.
2. Choose File → New session, pick the connection protocol, enter its details and save it with a recognisable name.
3. Find the name in the Sessions pane. Double-click it to connect. You can also select it and choose File → Connect selected.
4. If the pane is hidden, choose Edit → Go to Session Manager.
5. For SSH, respond to authentication in the terminal and verify a new server's host-key fingerprint before trusting it.

For a quick connection without first creating a profile, choose File → Quick Connect. To open a local terminal, choose File → Connect local shell.

• BBS Directory (toolbar button, or Tools → BBS Directory…): download the Synchronet BBS List and the Telnet BBS Guide, search them and connect to a BBS in a tab with the BBS settings. BBSes you have used stay at the top under Recent, with the Kalgoorlie Retro BBS first. Add your own BBSes and save any of them as a session. Updating a list never changes the BBSes you have used or added. BBS Directory guide.

• SFTP Browser (F7): this computer and the server side by side, with resumable transfers and permissions. Transfers guide.
• Copy Public Key to Server (like ssh-copy-id) and an SSH Agent window. Sessions guide.
• Remote Desktop (RDP) sessions in a tab, on Windows and Linux, with the server certificate checked like an SSH host key.
• Tear-off tabs: drag a tab out into its own window and back again.
• Sync sessions, folders, commands and button bars between computers through a shared folder; passwords are never synced.
• Update notifications with Update Now.
• Function keys for common actions (F1 lists them all).
• Built-in SSH engine: jump hosts, X11 and agent forwarding, Kerberos, Ed25519 certificates, most OpenSSH options and a FIPS-approved algorithms mode.
• Built-in Xmodem, Ymodem and Kermit. Transfers guide.
• Sixel images, 132 columns, double-size lines, margins, and the Wyse 60 and SCO ANSI terminal types.

• New BBS sessions are made with Tools → New BBS session…. The BBS tick-box has gone from File → New session, so the ordinary wizard is back to plain connection settings. Sessions guide.

• Apply BBS settings to sessions you already have: right-click them (or a folder) in the Sessions pane, or use Options → Apply BBS settings to this session…. Sessions guide.

• BBS sessions. Use Tools → New BBS session… (a tick-box in File → New session in 0.4.0) for CP437, a DOS-style ANSI-BBS screen (bright bold, blinking text, iCE colours, CP437 symbols), a built-in VGA font with gap-free block characters, and 80×25 scaled to the window. Sessions guide.
• RLogin for BBSes and door servers; the password can live in the system password store instead of the settings file.
• Zmodem downloads start by themselves; uploads start when the BBS is ready. Transfers guide.
• Import a SyncTERM BBS list with Tools → Import BBS list (SyncTERM)….

• Crash fix. Answering a script's message or question more than a minute after it appeared (for example a bot's “day finished” message) closed Lantern. Script messages and questions now wait for you however long you take.

• SyncTERM-Lua scripts run unchanged. Scripts written for the SyncTERM-Lua fork, such as BBS login scripts and door-game bots, run with Script → Run. Lua guide.
• CP437 character encoding for BBSes and door games (Session properties → Terminal → Appearance).
• Experimental bot scripts for LORD and TradeWars are on the download page.

• Built-in SSH engine (libssh), now the default. The status bar shows the cipher and key exchange actually negotiated. Host-key, passphrase and password questions appear in the terminal. It uses your SSH agent (on Windows, the Windows OpenSSH agent) and supports local, remote and SOCKS port forwarding. Sessions that need X11 or agent forwarding or extra OpenSSH options use OpenSSH automatically; Session properties → Connection → SSH2 → SSH engine can choose OpenSSH for any session.
• Control keys reach the terminal. Ctrl+P, Ctrl+N, Ctrl+F, Ctrl+S, Ctrl+Q, Alt+letters and F1 now go to the remote program. Lantern's own shortcuts use Ctrl+Shift: Ctrl+Shift+F find, Ctrl+Shift+O Quick Connect, Ctrl+Shift+S new session, Ctrl+Shift+Q exit.
• Telnet and BBS use: binary mode for 8-bit/CP437 data, negotiation fixes, and pasted line breaks sent as Enter.
• Safer: settings import merges and lists anything that would run a program; automatic reconnect no longer retries failed logins.
• Fixes: two crashes (SFTP upload from a local-shell tab; closing the last tab of a split group), logon expect/send timing, scripts answering login prompts, faster drawing and correct highlighting after wide characters.

Full list: changelog.

Opening another session preserves SSH tabs during connection and authentication. Live sessions display as open, and older Windows OpenSSH authentication messages are recognised.

Lua 5.4.9 is bundled on both platforms. Run .lua scripts with Script → Run, save recordings as Lua, and automate tabs, prompt capture, configuration, logging and clipboard. Lua guide and examples.

SSH connection failures display the actual SSH reason. A Permission denied (publickey) rejection explains where to select an authorised private key. The server's accepted host key is separate from your login credential, so deleting a saved session does not reset server trust.

• Readable session-wizard pages and immediate Options → Theme → System / Light / Dark choices.
• Fixed Windows SSH diagnostic-file sharing so OpenSSH can open its logfile.
• Manual ordering and desktop shortcuts for saved sessions.
• Command cut/copy/paste, script arguments and named button bars with per-session selection.

• Installation, upgrades and troubleshooting
• Saved sessions, appearance, tabs and backups
• File transfers and logging
• Python and Lua scripting
• BBS Directory
• Building from source
• Capabilities, limits and release verification

Version 0.6.0 adds the BBS Directory; 0.5.0 added the SFTP Browser, RDP, tear-off tabs, sync, update notifications, function keys, more of SSH in the built-in engine, Xmodem/Ymodem/Kermit and terminal emulation additions; 0.4.2 moved New BBS session to the Tools menu; 0.4.1 added Apply BBS settings; 0.4.0 added BBS support (RLogin, ANSI-BBS, VGA font, Zmodem, BBS list import); 0.3.4 fixed a crash with script messages; 0.3.3 added SyncTERM-Lua compatible scripting; 0.3.2 added the built-in SSH engine. All 17 Linux test suites passed (including the new BBS Directory tests and the SSH tools, transfer and RDP tests against real test servers), the Windows build's BBS Directory, RDP and SSH engine passed under Wine, and the Windows SSH agent login was confirmed on a real Windows PC. Physical Windows ConPTY and device/provider tests remain outstanding. The full product specification includes features beyond those implemented in this release; the capabilities guide states the current scope. Lua runs independently of Python in a cancellable worker.