Transparent network-to-serial bridge: Link two connections and this machine becomes a serial device server — a program on the network reads and writes the local serial port directly, while both sides of the traffic stay visible on screen. A fast network feeding a slow port is throttled automatically, and whatever still has to be dropped is counted in red until you clear it. Several clients can be handled exclusively, by broadcast, or by taking turns; an address allowlist keeps strangers out, both directions can be recorded into one time-ordered capture file, and a two-minute traffic curve shows how the link is doing
RFC 2217 and Modbus gateway: Two new protocol modes for the bridge. RFC 2217 lets a remote machine set the baud rate, data format, flow control and control lines as if the port were local; the Modbus gateway converts frames between TCP and RTU, and when several masters share one RS-485 bus it serves them one at a time so every answer goes back to whoever asked
Selectable wire encodings: Each connection can use its own receive and send encoding (UTF-8, GBK, GB18030, Big5, Shift-JIS, Latin-1, System and more), so a device that speaks GBK no longer arrives as mojibake. Both the settings dialog and the quick-settings panel can change it, and the choice is stored with your settings, the .spu project file and the cloud snapshot; terminal typing and cloud remote send follow the owning connection's encoding too
Drag the split between connections: The boundary between connections can be dragged, so a busy connection can be given more room; the proportions you drag survive toggling the quick-settings panel
Custom CRC: The toolbox accepts custom CRC parameters, and the result can be fed straight into the send frame
Configurable Enter sequence: The bytes sent by Enter in terminal mode are now yours to choose
Online help center: The Help menu links straight to the online help center
Restore defaults: Added a guarded workflow for restoring default settings
Microsoft Store: MSIX packaging is in, so the app can be installed from the Microsoft Store
UI Improvements
Bridge editor: The six setting groups became three tabs, so the dialog fits a 13" laptop and OK and Cancel are never pushed off screen
Toolbox: Streamlined the toolbox UI and its window entry
Quick settings panel: Adding a connection no longer folds the panel away — keeping it open is your call
Modbus request builder: Removed the empty space at the bottom of the window; it opens at the height the content actually needs
Fixes & Enhancements
Mac App Store launch crash: The 6.6 build installed from the Mac App Store quit immediately on launch. Fixed, and the release pipeline now has a check that stops the same kind of defect from shipping again
No way back from TCP/UDP mode: After a connection switched to TCP or UDP, the settings dialog no longer showed the port and mode pickers, leaving no route back to serial mode
Monospace font on macOS: The default font does not exist on macOS, so it was replaced with a proportional face and the hex and timestamp columns stopped lining up. The font is now picked from what is actually installed
GB18030 four-byte characters: Fixed the decoding of emoji and similar characters, along with a crash on malformed bytes seen with some Qt builds
Unencodable characters are no longer swapped silently: A character the current encoding cannot represent is no longer sent as ? — the frame is held back and the status bar names the character
Smaller install: Dropped an unused database component, cutting roughly 4 MB from the package
Connection activity lamps: The connection group gains interactive TX/RX and control-line indicator lamps that blink to reflect live traffic and control-line state; the classic control-line UI is retired in favour of the lamps
Serial control lines: Added serial control line handling with a new Control Lines tab in the settings dialog
Modbus request builder: Added a Modbus request builder to the Tools menu
Per-field quick settings: Quick settings are now available per field across all groups, with the picker moved into the settings dialog
Line Ending combo: Replaced the send auto-feed checkbox with a Line Ending combo
Restore last connection: Automatically restores the connection that was open at last exit
Terminal caret & honest Tx metrics: The terminal mode shows a caret and reports real Tx counts
UI Improvements
TCP/UDP mode UI: Silenced the server-error popup and polished the TCP/UDP mode UI
Toolbar: Reworked the log-recording and quick-settings toolbar controls
UI alignment & polish: Unified the receive Auto FL and send Loop rows, aligned the Line Ending and Append Checksum combos, and more
Fixes & Enhancements
Settings defaults: Seeded and guarded the remaining Log/Display defaults in the settings panel; never store empty Rx/Tx time formats
.spu session loading: Parse .spu bool flags with toBool so saved true values survive reload
Internationalization: Label the format radios Text, not ASCII, in Chinese
Log directory: Create the log directory before opening the log file
Transparent network-to-serial bridge: Link two connections and this machine becomes a serial device server — a program on the network reads and writes the local serial port directly, while both sides of the traffic stay visible on screen. A fast network feeding a slow port is throttled automatically, and whatever still has to be dropped is counted in red until you clear it. Several clients can be handled exclusively, by broadcast, or by taking turns; an address allowlist keeps strangers out, both directions can be recorded into one time-ordered capture file, and a two-minute traffic curve shows how the link is doing
RFC 2217 and Modbus gateway: Two new protocol modes for the bridge. RFC 2217 lets a remote machine set the baud rate, data format, flow control and control lines as if the port were local; the Modbus gateway converts frames between TCP and RTU, and when several masters share one RS-485 bus it serves them one at a time so every answer goes back to whoever asked
Selectable wire encodings: Each connection can use its own receive and send encoding (UTF-8, GBK, GB18030, Big5, Shift-JIS, Latin-1, System and more), so a device that speaks GBK no longer arrives as mojibake. Both the settings dialog and the quick-settings panel can change it, and the choice is stored with your settings, the .spu project file and the cloud snapshot; terminal typing and cloud remote send follow the owning connection's encoding too
Drag the split between connections: The boundary between connections can be dragged, so a busy connection can be given more room; the proportions you drag survive toggling the quick-settings panel
Custom CRC: The toolbox accepts custom CRC parameters, and the result can be fed straight into the send frame
Configurable Enter sequence: The bytes sent by Enter in terminal mode are now yours to choose
Online help center: The Help menu links straight to the online help center
Restore defaults: Added a guarded workflow for restoring default settings
Microsoft Store: MSIX packaging is in, so the app can be installed from the Microsoft Store
UI Improvements
Bridge editor: The six setting groups became three tabs, so the dialog fits a 13" laptop and OK and Cancel are never pushed off screen
Toolbox: Streamlined the toolbox UI and its window entry
Quick settings panel: Adding a connection no longer folds the panel away — keeping it open is your call
Modbus request builder: Removed the empty space at the bottom of the window; it opens at the height the content actually needs
Fixes & Enhancements
Mac App Store launch crash: The 6.6 build installed from the Mac App Store quit immediately on launch. Fixed, and the release pipeline now has a check that stops the same kind of defect from shipping again
No way back from TCP/UDP mode: After a connection switched to TCP or UDP, the settings dialog no longer showed the port and mode pickers, leaving no route back to serial mode
Monospace font on macOS: The default font does not exist on macOS, so it was replaced with a proportional face and the hex and timestamp columns stopped lining up. The font is now picked from what is actually installed
GB18030 four-byte characters: Fixed the decoding of emoji and similar characters, along with a crash on malformed bytes seen with some Qt builds
Unencodable characters are no longer swapped silently: A character the current encoding cannot represent is no longer sent as ? — the frame is held back and the status bar names the character
Smaller install: Dropped an unused database component, cutting roughly 4 MB from the package
Connection activity lamps: The connection group gains interactive TX/RX and control-line indicator lamps that blink to reflect live traffic and control-line state; the classic control-line UI is retired in favour of the lamps
Serial control lines: Added serial control line handling with a new Control Lines tab in the settings dialog
Modbus request builder: Added a Modbus request builder to the Tools menu
Per-field quick settings: Quick settings are now available per field across all groups, with the picker moved into the settings dialog
Line Ending combo: Replaced the send auto-feed checkbox with a Line Ending combo
Restore last connection: Automatically restores the connection that was open at last exit
Terminal caret & honest Tx metrics: The terminal mode shows a caret and reports real Tx counts
UI Improvements
TCP/UDP mode UI: Silenced the server-error popup and polished the TCP/UDP mode UI
Toolbar: Reworked the log-recording and quick-settings toolbar controls
UI alignment & polish: Unified the receive Auto FL and send Loop rows, aligned the Line Ending and Append Checksum combos, and more
Fixes & Enhancements
Settings defaults: Seeded and guarded the remaining Log/Display defaults in the settings panel; never store empty Rx/Tx time formats
.spu session loading: Parse .spu bool flags with toBool so saved true values survive reload
Internationalization: Label the format radios Text, not ASCII, in Chinese
Log directory: Create the log directory before opening the log file
Cloud Console: When enabled, a signed-in browser on alithon.com can view this device's ports live; separate "Allow Remote Send" and remote port-control consents govern cloud writes and remote open/close/reconfigure. Data uploads only while someone is watching and counts toward the monthly traffic quota
Account system: Sign in / sign out from the Account submenu under File, with a "keep me signed in" persistent session; the status bar shows the account state on the far right and menu entries follow the auth state
Device binding & account sync: Bind this machine to your account after signing in and keep account data in sync
Auto-reconnect: Automatically attempts to reconnect after an unexpected disconnect
Send-frame checksums: Outgoing frames can carry a checksum, with a quick-settings entry
Receive find/filter bar: The receive text area gains a find/filter bar for locating content in large outputs
UI Improvements
Toolbar rework: Regrouped by function with connection controls first; toggle buttons now reflect their pressed state; shortcuts completed; the port combo stays in sync across windows and defaults to a real available port; the toolbar is locked in place
Menu rework: Added a Connection menu, moved Account under File, consolidated licensing entries; completed Simplified Chinese translations with unified mnemonics
Registration dialog: Redesigned the registration/purchase prompt; the defunct Weidian QR code is replaced with a direct purchase link
UDP communication modes: Added UDP Server and UDP Client configuration pages with complete send/receive support, plus coverage for the connection controller, settings panel, and serial port widget
Fixes & Enhancements
Received text sanitization: Text receive mode now filters ANSI escape sequences so terminal control codes do not pollute displayed content
Consolidated connection settings: Removed the duplicate inline connection editor; SettingsPanel is now the single configuration source for serial, TCP, and UDP connections
Serial placeholder detection: The no-port placeholder is now classified as a serial entry, preventing connection-mode misclassification
Status-bar log link: The status-bar log path is now an in-app link — clicking it flushes and then opens the current log file. The filename is length/NULL-validated and HTML-escaped, the tooltip shows the absolute path, a placeholder is shown when logging is off, and flush/open failures now raise a warning
Safer serial text rendering: The receive pane, log output, and text-decoding path now sanitize non-printable control characters while preserving line breaks, carriage returns, and tabs. Other control characters are replaced with placeholders to keep the UI and logs readable
Fixes & Enhancements
Stability: Fixed SQLiteAdapter connection reuse and cleanup issues by using unique connection names, parameterized SQL, UPSERT handling, and a safer close sequence, improving reliability for local configuration and license data writes
Network resource handling: Fixed parent ownership and cleanup logic for UDP/TCP-related objects to reduce leak risks during connection switching and teardown