Last updated: September 27, 2011
Please feel free to email
your comments. PGP keys are available here.
| Qodem : |
The Qodem Project is an effort to retain some of the best concepts of the BBS era on modern systems.
Qodem was started in 2003 when Kevin Lamonte had the desire for a program that could:
After some searching, he determined that no open-source programs existed at the time that filled that need. Good ssh clients either required X11 or lacked keyboard macros; good console applications lacked scrollback and capture support; and almost no one had re-implemented Zmodem. He realized that what he ultimately wanted was to be able to use his favorite BBS-era communications program Qmodem on Linux. So he started writing his own version and along the way tried to show how the ideas of Qmodem continue to provide a great user experience on today's systems.
After a long development time Qodem is finally very close to its 1.0 release.
Qodem is Copyright(c) 2003-2010 Kevin Lamonte, licensed under the GNU Public License version 2 or later.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Qmodem set a very high bar for PC communications software. For many years the standard response to "What comm program should I use?" was "Get Qmodem, it's the best." Qmodem was more than a terminal emulator, it was one's window into the wider online world. Web browser features like bookmarks, history, saved passwords, and user-side scripts can trace their lineage at least in part through Qmodem.
Some of Qmodem's history is outlined on its Wikipedia page. Some other references to Qmodem in hardcopy books include:
For years, PC-TALK has reigned supreme as the most popular user support communications software among owners of IBM/PCs and compatible computers. And with good reason: It's an excellent program. But now there's a challenger on the horizon that goes PC-TALK several turns better. The program is called Qmodem, and it is offered by John Friel III, a systems programmer with the John Deere Company in Cedar Falls, Iowa, under the user supported concept pioneered by PC-TALK and Andrew Fluegelman. Written in Turbo Pascal, Qmodem is 30% to 40% faster than PC-TALK's compiled BASIC version...
Among other outstanding improvements, Qmodem offers 12 windows that pop up and disappear at your command ... where PC-TALK lets you strip or convert three incoming characters, Qmodem lets you fiddle with all 255 characters in the extended ASCII code set.
The dialing directory will accommodate 200 phone numbers, compared to PC-TALK's 60, and Qmodem will dial up to ten different numbers in sequence until it gets an answer for each one. There is also a split-screen mode and the option to "back-scroll" up to 250 lines of text that scrolled off the screen while you are online. There are many other nice features as well. In short, this is one nifty program.
If you're using a crummy modem program and want one that's more friendly to use, you can download — or order via voice phone — a test-drive version of the Qmodem telecommunications program. A number of excellent communications programs are out there, so if you get one of them instead, you'll be in good hands. However, since I had to pick one (the program is so big it is broken into two files), I selected my personal favorite and the one that's easiest to download.
This page archives as many versions of Qmodem releases as possible, and related utilities.
Mustang Software was allegedly contacted at some time regarding Qmodem sales and responded with the statement "Get the crack file from the internet. We have washed our company from the product." Kevin Lamonte contacted Santronics (the purchasers of Quintus, who purchased Mustang Software) in 2003 and the representative said much the same thing. Qmodem appears to legally be "abandonware": it appears that no parties with the legal right to control its copyright desire to do so.
The following versions are still missing in action:
Below are the versions of Qmodem and related utilities found so far:
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| qm40dsk1.zip | Qmodem 4.0 Disk 1/5 |
| qm40dsk2.zip | Qmodem 4.0 Disk 2/5 |
| qm40dsk3.zip | Qmodem 4.0 Disk 3/5 |
| qm40dsk4.zip | Qmodem 4.0 Disk 4/5 |
| qm40dsk5.zip | Qmodem 4.0 Disk 5/5 |
| qm40new.zip | Qmodem 4.0 - new features announcement |
| qm40fnts.zip | Qmodem 4.0 - Pascal source description of file formats |
| qm41dsk1.zip | Qmodem 4.1 Disk 1/5 |
| qm41dsk2.zip | Qmodem 4.1 Disk 2/5 |
| qm41dsk3.zip | Qmodem 4.1 Disk 3/5 |
| qm41dsk4.zip | Qmodem 4.1 Disk 4/5 |
| qm41dsk5.zip | Qmodem 4.1 Disk 5/5 |
| qm41b1.zip | Qmodem 4.1B Disk 1/5 |
| qm41b2.zip | Qmodem 4.1B Disk 2/5 |
| qm41b3.zip | Qmodem 4.1B Disk 3/5 |
| qm41b4.zip | Qmodem 4.1B Disk 4/5 |
| qm41b5.zip | Qmodem 4.1B Disk 5/5 |
| qm41bjiv.zip | Qmodem 4.1B - "JIVE" emulation support |
| qm42_1.zip | Qmodem 4.2 Disk 1/4 |
| qm42_2.zip | Qmodem 4.2 Disk 2/4 |
| qm42_3.zip | Qmodem 4.2 Disk 3/4 |
| qm42_4.zip | Qmodem 4.2 Disk 4/4 |
| qm42a_1.zip | Qmodem 4.2A Disk 1/4 |
| qm42a_2.zip | Qmodem 4.2A Disk 2/4 |
| qm42a_3.zip | Qmodem 4.2A Disk 3/4 |
| qm42a_4.zip | Qmodem 4.2A Disk 4/4 |
| qm42c_1.zip | Qmodem 4.2C Disk 1/4 |
| qm42c_2.zip | Qmodem 4.2C Disk 2/4 |
| qm42c_3.zip | Qmodem 4.2C Disk 3/4 |
| qm42c_4.zip | Qmodem 4.2C Disk 4/4 |
| qm43_1.zip | Qmodem 4.3 Disk 1/4 |
| qm43_2.zip | Qmodem 4.3 Disk 2/4 |
| qm43_3.zip | Qmodem 4.3 Disk 3/4 |
| qm43_4.zip | Qmodem 4.3 Disk 4/4 |
| qm431_1.zip | Qmodem 4.31 Disk 1/4 |
| qm431_2.zip | Qmodem 4.31 Disk 2/4 |
| qm431_3.zip | Qmodem 4.31 Disk 3/4 |
| qm431_4.zip | Qmodem 4.31 Disk 4/4 |
| q43to431.zip | Patch to upgrade Qmodem 4.3 to 4.31 |
| qmod45td.zip | Qmodem 4.5 Test Drive |
| qm452td.zip | Qmodem 4.52 Test Drive |
| qm46-td.zip | Qmodem 4.6 Test Drive |
| qm5.zip | Qmodem 5.0. This is the version Qodem is modeled after. |
| qm50new.zip | Qmodem 5.0 - new features announcement |
| qm-olx.zip | Patch to upgrade Qmodem 5.0 to 5.01 and OLX 2.1 to 2.2 |
| qm501fix.zip | A crack for Qmodem 5.01 to skip the splash screen |
| qmfix.zip | Avoid the 15-second registration pause for Qmodem 4.x |
| qmserial.zip | Registration code generator for Qmodem |
| qm_hst_c.zip | Colorized host mode menus |
| pcpl2qm.zip | Convert Procomm Plus 1.1 and 2.0 phone book files to Qmodem 5.0 and Qmodem Test Drive 4.5 format |
| pctqmd.zip | Pascal source program that converts a PC-Talk phone book file to Qmodem format |
| qmdmsort.zip | C source program that can sort a Qmodem phone book by several different criteria |
| qmfonmv.zip | C program + source that can move entries in a Qmodem 5.0 phone book |
| qmpro10_dxp.zip | QmodemPro 1.0, as a DXP self-extracting 1.44MB disk image |
| qmpro10.zip | QmodemPro 1.0 files from the DXP self-extracting 1.44MB disk image. A serial number assured to work is 41-0001. |
| qmpro151.exe | Patch to upgrade QmodemPro from 1.50 to 1.51 |
| qmpro152.zip | Patch to upgrade QmodemPro from 1.51 to 1.52 |
| qmpro.zip | QmodemPro 1.53 For DOS. Currently registered to "Grim Reaper", delete QMPRO.CNF and enter a new registration code if desired (66-3454 works). This is the last version of QmodemPro for DOS. |
| qmwin.zip | QmodemPro for Windows 1.0 - new features announcement |
| qm101.zip | Patch to update QmodemPro for Windows from 1.0 to 1.01 |
| qmwin110.zip | Patch to update QmodemPro for Windows from 1.01 to 1.10 |
| qmwin111.zip | Patch to update QmodemPro for Windows from 1.10 to 1.11 |
| qwin111c.zip | Patch to update QmodemPro for Windows from 1.11 to 1.11c |
| qm2_1.zip | QmodemPro For Windows 95 v2.1. Includes a registration key and crack. This appears to be the most recent version available on the Internet. |
| qmpwin_2.zip | QmodemPro For Windows 95 v2.1. Includes a crack to avoid registration check. |
| qmcracks.zip | Serial numbers for various versions of Qmodem/QmodemPro, and a description of cracking the "Timelock" software used in QmodemPro For Windows95 v2.x. |
| qm421km.arj | Key-maker generator for QmodemPro for Windows 2.1 |
The Qmodem 4.6 Test Drive user's guide is reproduced in several formats: