Features

Standard Edition connects over RS-232 serial and TCP/IP. Professional Edition adds RS-422, RS-485, modem dial-up, UDP, and a TCP socket listener that waits for a client to connect.

Version 3 can open COM ports through port 256, including ports above 16. A port may be virtual, a terminal-server port over Remote Desktop, Bluetooth, USB, or PCMCIA. The baud rate still has to be one the hardware supports: up to 115,200 in Standard, and up to 921,600 in Professional.

Indigo includes remote-login protocols and a few simple TCP services, plus a raw view with no protocol.

Use an emulation when the host expects a terminal. Use the raw view when you want the bytes as they arrive.

Indigo uses a multiple-document interface. Each session opens in its own window, and you can minimize, maximize, tile, or cascade those windows vertically or horizontally.

More than one instance of Indigo can run at the same time. That is useful when you want a separate instance on each monitor.

For a one-off Telnet or serial host, the Quick Connect toolbar takes the basic connection details and connects without saving a session. Recent Quick Connect addresses are remembered so you can open them again.

The session manager is a dockable list of saved sessions. Settings for each session live in that session file, and the list is grouped so you can find a connection and open it.

Selected sessions can be set to load when Indigo starts. Right-click a session in the manager and choose Auto-Load.

Each session has a display format for received data. A converter tool can also take a selection from the session, or ASCII text dropped onto it, and show that data in another format.

The custom format editor sets what Indigo draws for each received byte. Start from a standard form such as decimal or hexadecimal, or type your own display string.

Each session can write received data to its own log file, with its own settings. You can cap the file size, roll over to a new file when the size limit is hit or the date changes, and stamp received data as it is logged.

Version 3 also added raw data-stream logging.

Syntax coloring paints the strings you choose, so a word such as ERROR can show in red while data is streaming. Line numbers can be turned on per session.

A session window can be split so one pane stays on earlier data while the other follows new data. Press F12 at any time for ASCII charts that list each byte in its other representations.

Store commands you send often as menu items and hot keys. Run them from the macro menu, from toolbar buttons, or with a key combination.

The command library is a dockable list aimed at whole sets of commands. Swap library files as the task changes. Run a command by double-clicking it or by dragging it to the session. Library files can be shared so a team uses the same command set.

Variables are tokens in a command that Indigo replaces when the command is sent. They work in typed commands, macros, library commands, and the command repeater. Variable libraries are files too, so a set can be swapped or shared.

The repeater sends a list of commands on a timer. Variables in that list can be changed mathematically on each cycle. You can import an existing command library and variable library. It is meant for repeated checks against a device or piece of equipment.

Version 3 can send what you transmit in one session to every open session. A separate tool reads a file and writes it to the connected session at a chosen rate and chunk size.

Indigo also accepts internal commands: instructions in the session that Indigo handles itself.

Serial pass bridges two COM ports on the computer and shows the traffic in both directions. Indigo sits in the middle and listens.

Professional Edition can dial out from a session. It supports TAPI modems and Hayes-compatible hardware. Dial-up settings are stored with the session.

Version 3 can transfer files over a serial connection. ASCII transfer is listed for the release. XMODEM, XMODEM-1K, XMODEM-CRC, YMODEM, YMODEM-BATCH, YMODEM-G, ZMODEM, and Kermit are marked Professional.

Program preferences are the global settings for how Indigo behaves. Window states save the size and position of the Indigo window so you can recall that layout. Menu font and size can be changed for the application menus and context menus.

Web update checks for a newer build, downloads it, and starts the installer. You can look for production releases or beta builds. A licensed copy is what enables web update.

Indigo includes a browser window based on Internet Explorer. It is treated like other session windows, so it can be minimized, maximized, tiled, or cascaded, and web links can be stored in the session manager.