Skillget

flynn

skill
Security Audit
Pass
Health Pass
  • License — License: NOASSERTION
  • Description — Repository has a description
  • Active repo — Last push 0 days ago
  • Community trust — 14 GitHub stars
Code Pass
  • Code scan — Scanned 6 files during light audit, no dangerous patterns found
Permissions Pass
  • Permissions — No dangerous permissions requested
Purpose
This tool is a Telnet and Finger client designed for classic 68k Macintosh systems (Mac Plus and later). It provides a terminal emulator for connecting to remote servers and BBS systems.

Security Assessment
This tool natively makes network requests, as its core functionality relies entirely on the Telnet and Finger protocols. The automated code scan of 6 files found no dangerous patterns, no hardcoded secrets, and no suspicious permissions. Keep in mind that the Telnet protocol is inherently unencrypted, meaning any data sent or received is transmitted in plain text. Additionally, the project notes it was "100% vibe coded" using AI, meaning there is a higher risk of undiscovered edge-case vulnerabilities compared to a manually audited codebase. Overall risk: Low.

Quality Assessment
The project is actively maintained, with its most recent push occurring today. It has a small but dedicated community, reflected by 14 GitHub stars. The repository does have a description, but the automated scan flagged the license as "NOASSERTION." This means the repository lacks a standard, legally recognizable open-source license file. While the source code is public, the lack of an explicit license means you technically do not have formal permission to use, modify, or distribute it.

Verdict
Safe to use for retro-computing enthusiasts, but note the lack of a formal license and the inherent insecurity of plain-text Telnet communication.
SUMMARY

A Telnet and Finger client for classic 68k Macintoshes

README.md

Flynn

A Telnet and Finger client for classic 68000 Macintosh systems, from the Mac Plus and up. Supports monochrome on System 6 and 256 colors on System 7. Works with MacTCP and Open Transport's MacTCP compatibility layer. Cross-compiled on Linux using Retro68.

This project was 100% vibe coded using Claude Code.

Download · Features · Keyboard Shortcuts · Building · Testing · Acknowledgments · License

System 6
Flynn telnet session with neofetch Flynn running tmux with split panes
Telnet Session tmux Split Panes
Flynn connect dialog Flynn BBS and terminal multi-window
Connect Dialog Multi-Session and ANSI-BBS

System 7

Flynn 256-color on System 7
256-Color Multi-Session

Download

Pre-built binaries are available on the Releases page, Macintosh Garden, and Macintosh Repository:

Edition Description Memory Download
Flynn Full build — 4 sessions, all features including 256-color ~768KB .dsk · .hqx
Flynn Lite Recommended for Mac Plus — 1 session, most features ~384KB .dsk · .hqx
Flynn Minimal Bare-bones — 1 session, no scrollback, stripped ~256KB .dsk · .hqx

Each edition is available as .dsk (800K floppy image) and .hqx (BinHex archive). No build toolchain required — just download and run. See docs/BUILD.md for custom builds.

Requirements

  • Macintosh Plus or later (4MB RAM, 68000 CPU)
  • System 6.0.8 or System 7 with MacTCP or Open Transport
  • ~119KB disk space, ~72KB RAM per session (mono) / ~123KB (color)

Features

Terminal Emulation

  • VT100/VT220/xterm/xterm-256color/ANSI-BBS terminal emulation with CP437 rendering
  • 256-color support on System 7 with Color QuickDraw (zero System 6 impact)
  • SGR attributes: bold, italic, underline, dim, strikethrough, blink, inverse
  • UTF-8 with box-drawing, Unicode glyphs, emoji, and Braille patterns (180 primitives + 57 sextants + 18 emoji)
  • OSC support: window title, palette and color queries

Display & Windowing

  • Multiple sessions (up to 4 simultaneous windows)
  • Resizable window and scrollback (80x24 up to 132x50, 192-line scrollback)
  • Status bar showing terminal size, protocol, and connection info
  • 6 fonts (Monaco 9/12, Courier 10, Chicago 12, Geneva 9/10)
  • Dark mode

Input & Interaction

  • Mouse text selection with copy/paste
  • Bracketed paste mode
  • M0110 keyboard support
  • Double-buffered rendering
  • Keystroke buffering
  • Local echo for BBS sessions (WONT ECHO servers)
  • Backspace DEL/BS toggle

Finger Protocol (RFC 1288)

  • Finger client (File > Finger..., Cmd+F)
  • User and host queries with optional verbose (/W) flag
  • Finger forwarding (user@host@gateway auto-split)
  • Remembers last host/user across launches

Session Management

  • Session bookmarks (with per-bookmark Telnet/Finger protocol)
  • Settings persistence
  • MultiFinder, Apple Events, and Notification Manager support

Keyboard Shortcuts

Flynn is designed for the Apple M0110/M0110A keyboard, which lacks Escape and Control keys. These mappings also work on modern USB/ADB keyboards.

Action Keys Notes
Escape Cmd+. Classic Mac "Cancel" convention
Escape Clear (keypad) M0110A numeric keypad key
Escape Esc key Modern keyboards only (not on M0110)
Ctrl+key Option+key e.g., Option+C = Ctrl+C
Scroll up/down Cmd+Up/Down One line at a time
Scroll page Cmd+Shift+Up/Down One page at a time
Select text Click+drag Stream selection with inverse video
Select word Double-click Selects contiguous non-space word
Extend selection Shift+click Extends selection to click point
Copy Cmd+C Copies selection, or full screen if none
Paste Cmd+V Sends clipboard to connection
Select All Cmd+A Selects entire terminal screen
F1-F10 Cmd+1..0 For M0110 keyboards without function keys
Bookmarks Cmd+B Open bookmark manager
New Session Cmd+N New session (new window if connected)
Finger Cmd+F Finger protocol query
Save Contents Cmd+S Save scrollback and screen to text file
Close Window Cmd+W Close active session window
Quit Cmd+Q Quit Flynn

Building

Requires the Retro68 cross-compilation toolchain. Build it from source (68k only):

git clone https://github.com/autc04/Retro68.git
cd Retro68 && git submodule update --init && cd ..
mkdir Retro68-build && cd Retro68-build
bash ../Retro68/build-toolchain.bash --no-ppc --no-carbon --prefix=$(pwd)/toolchain

Then build Flynn:

./scripts/build.sh

Build Presets

Flynn supports fully customizable builds. Three presets cover common configurations:

Preset Sessions Scrollback Features Memory
minimal 1 none clipboard, alt screen only ~256KB
lite 1 96 lines everything except color ~384KB
full 4 192 lines everything ~768KB

The default build uses the full preset. Select a preset with --preset:

./scripts/build.sh --preset minimal    # stripped, for 1MB Macs
./scripts/build.sh --preset full       # everything, 4 sessions

Individual features can be toggled with --feature / --no-feature flags. Presets are applied first, then individual flags override:

./scripts/build.sh --preset minimal --finger --bookmarks
./scripts/build.sh --sessions 2 --color --no-darkmode

See docs/BUILD.md for the complete list of build flags, feature details, memory costs, and examples.

Testing

Uses Snow emulator (v1.3.1) with a Mac Plus ROM and System 6.0.8 SCSI hard drive image. Snow supports DaynaPORT SCSI/Link Ethernet emulation for MacTCP networking. The emulator can be fully automated via X11 for unattended testing. See docs/TESTING.md for details.

Acknowledgments

  • Claude Code by Anthropic
  • Retro68 by Wolfgang Thaller
  • Snow emulator
  • wallops by joshua stein — MacTCP wrapper (tcp.c/tcp.h), DNS resolution (dnr.c/dnr.h), utility functions (util.c/util.h), and MacTCP.h are used directly from this project. ISC license.
  • subtext by joshua stein — The Telnet IAC protocol implementation (telnet.c/telnet.h) served as the reference for Flynn's client-side telnet engine. ISC license.

License

ISC License. See LICENSE for full details.

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