Unix Server Tech Knowledge Base

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====== Serial Port Tools ======

Two main Unix tools for command line interfaces over serial ports are //cu// and //minicom//. I like the latter, my friend Dave likes the former. This article has tricks for using them.

===== cu =====

==== Misc info - cu utility bustage ====

cu can be sorta broken connecting to serial dev when cu installed without the uucp pkg. There needs to be a minimal /etc/uucp/port file in order for cu to be happy. Quick fix: create /etc/uucp/port as follows:
<code - /etc/uucp/port>
#
# Description for the TCP port - pretty trivial. DON'T DELETE.
#
port TCP
type tcp
</code>

  * https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/uucp/+bug/1094278
  * https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/uucp/+bug/584787

===== minicom =====

Minicom was originally designed for acoustic modems, and there are several things that are still in there. 

==== Startup Commands ====

For one thing, it wants to //initialize// the modem by sending some strings to it when started up. Obviously, this is not good when using it for a connection to your network switch. The -o options stops that.

Additionally, I tend to use USB to Serial Port devices, so I have to explicitly tell minicom what port to use when I start up. Generally, this is /dev/ttyUSB0, and I use the -D parameter to set this.

My normal startup command is<code bash>minicom -o -D /dev/ttyUSB0</code>

===== Menu Options =====

One of the reasons I like minicom is it is a clean, full screen interface. However, it has tons of options, all accessed as ^a-?, where ? is the specific option you want to execute. ^a-t brings up a menu of options.