Century Software has received several suggested enhancements for the passphrase used by RSA and DSA keys:

1) Prompt for an optional passphrase when creating keys. When attempting to use the keys, prompt for that passphrase.

2) Optionally allow user, when entering their passphrase, to select to “remember this passphrase”, for “this session only” or “forever”.

3) Allow the user to delete a remembered passphrase.

4) Regardless of whether it is remembered or not, never display it. Use dots or similar to hide the passphrase when generating the RSA or DSA key. This was implemented in TinyTERM for iPad 1.2.4, and TinyTERM ITX for iPhone 1.0.1.

CR 993

Configure an SSH connection for an RSA key on TinyTERM ITX for Mac. Add the public key to the host system. As soon as you try to connect, the message “Error reading private key” comes up. Password and keyboard-interactive both work.

CR 989

When using SSH with username/password or challenge-response (keyboard-interactive) authentication, TinyTERM for iPad will not connect if the password is blank. It expects a password to be entered, and the connection fails without it.

CR 984

Every time a session is saved, TinyTERM stores the current hostname or IP address in the .tpx file. If the hostname is changed, both the previous and current address are stored. These can be accessed from a drop-down list on the Sessiontab of TinyTERM’s settings.

To remove this history list, open the .tpx file in a text editor. Search it for the line that starts:

node=

Delete all the addresses that should no longer be stored.

Century Software has received a request for a user interface option that will remove those extra addresses.

Cr 962

In TinyTERM ITX for iPhone, generate an SSH key. When that finishes, select the option to email the public key. After the email has finished sending, it returns automatically to TinyTERM ITX. But the title bar is missing and with it, the Settings button that allows you to move back a screen. You have to close TinyTERM ITX and reopen it to get that title bar back.

CR 960, fixed in TinyTERM ITX for iPhone 1.0.1

When making an SSL connection with TN3270 emulation, the status line at the bottom of the TinyTERM window shows the message, “Connected = no connection.” This is cosmetic. The connection works normally.

CR 949, fixed in TinyTERM Plus 4.7.0

When making an SSH connection using username/password authentication in TinyTERM for iPad 1.2.1, the app hangs and the keyboard disappears after entering the password. This does not affect public key authentication.

This is tied to challenge-response authentication on the host. If that is enabled, then the connection hangs.

The best fix is to update TinyTERM for iPad. Version 1.2.2 resolves this issue. If you do not wish to update, disabling challenge-response authentication will also prevent the error. To do that, search for this line in the host’s /etc/ssh/sshd_config file:

ChallengeResponseAuthentication yes

It may be commented out with the # symbol. If so, remove that symbol and change yes to no:

ChallengeResponseAuthentication no

Restart the SSHD daemon on the host after making this change. The connection will work properly at that point.

CR 946

TinyTERM for iPad 1.2.0, released on August 3, 2011, will give the message “Error reading public key” on some SSH connections. This is due to a bug in the switch that controls public key authentication. That switch state doesn’t get properly saved if you hit the Done button instead of Connect.

We have a workaround which will fix the problem. Go to TinyTERM’s Configure menu and select your connection. Tap the Manage SSH Keys button. In the resulting screen, turn on the Use public key switch. Hit the Back button. Tap Manage SSH Keys again and turn off public key. Hit Back again, then hit Connect. TinyTERM will connect using password authentication.

You can also work around this problem by disabling RSA authentication on the server. To disable RSA on the host, go to its /etc/ssh directory and edit the sshd_config file. Look for the following two lines:

RSAAuthentication yes
PubkeyAuthentication yes

Change “yes” to “no” on each line. The lines may also be commented out with the # character. If so, remove it from the beginning of the line when making the change. Restart the SSH daemon after making the change.

TinyTERM for iPad version 1.2.1 has been uploaded as well. It became available on August 8. It fixes that switch, and adds in an authentication search for SSH. If the initial authentication fails, it will try the next method made available by the server, and so on, until all available methods have been tried.

Century Software, Inc., has received several requests for RS232 serial support in TinyTERM for iPad. Now that the Redpark Serial Cable for iOS has been approved officially by Apple, we are exploring the possibility of using it with TinyTERM.

Adding Bluetooth serial support to TinyTERM is more problematic. As of version 5, iOS does not support Serial Port Profile (SPP). The best wireless solution for now is a wifi-to-RS232 device, which is fully supported both by iOS and by TinyTERM.

CR 903, Bluetooth
CR 940, serial cable

When running TinyTERM on a Windows 7 PC and connecting via RS232 (Serial), the numeric keypad gives inconsistent output. At a shell prompt it works as designed. Inside applications, it fails intermittently. The Force NumLock On keyboard option has no effect on this behavior.

CR 936