How to start a terminal session on serial port?

[ttest]

I wanted to use a linux box to control a router through the serial port. How do I start a terminal session and communicate with the router through serial port?

ttest
thum@starwarsfan.com

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

You will need to use a program like minicom for that. I've never done it myself under linux but I'm sure it works fine. See

http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/Serial-HOWTO.html

for info. The software section of that howto is at

http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/Serial-HOWTO-11.html

.

Regards

 

[pmkincaid]

Minicom (or xminicom) is exactly what you need. But there are a couple things to note -- minicom comes by default ready to use the modem to connect. First thing you need to do -- as root run 'minicom -s' and under 'Serial Port Setup' change 'A' (Serial Device) to '/dev/ttyS0' for COM1 or '/dev/ttyS1' for COM2. You'll also have to change 'E' (Bps/par/Bits) to what you need for your serial device (ie if it is a Cisco router is 9600 8N1 and No Flow Control) - you'll have to play with these settings if you cannot get connected to your device right away.

That is all you have to do, but I also go under the 'Modem and Dialing' and remove everything from the 'Init String' and 'Reset String' - I have seen problems with those, even when using minicom for a serial device.

Finally choose 'Save settings as dfl' and 'Exit from Minicom'.

That will change the system wide settings and you can now launch minicom as a regular user and connect to a serial device.

If you don't have minicom (or xminicom) on your box, take a look at

http://www.freshmeat.net

for it.

Hope this helps,
Paul