Debian Package a Day ([info]debaday) wrote,
@ 2004-05-27 08:00:00
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minicom - friendly menu driven serial communication program
Minicom is a clone of the MS-DOS "Telix" communication program. It emulates ANSI and VT102 terminals, has a dialing directory and auto zmodem download. Backports for the stable Debian release are provided at Minicom's upstream homepage, which can be found at http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/.
Along with recommending flightgear and about a dozen other packages, Paul suggested minicom. Before anyone complains about selecting such a common package, I'll say this in my own defense: every so often I need to connect with a serial device directly, such as a switch, a power strip, or even the occasional computer console. For years I have turned to minicom to get the job done. It has always been forgiving to let me quickly get in touch with those devices without spending a lot of time getting it configured (but I grew up on serial, so YMMV). It's a fine basic tool. If there's another way to open a terminal on a serial line, I'm blissfully ignorant for now.

I have a confession to make. I haven't been running X for several years and I tend to be a bit of a console junkie. I use screen extensively along with ssh. I would like to ask that folks proposing all those cool GUI packages to provide their own commentary that I can include. I will not be able to evaluate those packages adequately. Please indicate if I may give you credit for the submission. I love all of the suggestions that are rolling in, but it is a challenge to find the time to review the packages in any detail much less say anything intelligent about them. Thanks!

I'm still getting the kinks ironed out of the system here and am just barely keeping up with getting things posted. The positive comments have been very uplifting and have kept me going even though I should be asleep.

More information on this package can be found on the Debian web site.
(If there is a package you would like to see featured here, go to the userinfo page and follow the directions there to submit your entry.)


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no new packages?
(Anonymous)
2004-06-01 05:47 am UTC (link)
Hey, whats going on? I thought this site is Debian package A DAY? And no new package since 3 or 4 days...

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Re: no new packages?
(Anonymous)
2004-06-01 11:25 am UTC (link)
Well, guess someone's eyes were bigger than their belly. (Which is too bad, 'cause I've sent the link to some future linux users to show them what cool packages they'll have access to when the switch. Ooops.)

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[info]grepmaster
2004-07-29 10:02 am UTC (link)
I'm not one to choose pretty GUI programs because I'm afraid of the command line; I used to run many packages on my system compiled out of their CVS myself. However, in my experience, minicom is a TOTAL PAIN to try to get working right. To complicate matters, when all one needs is simple serial port connection, it has a bunch of extra junk for modem control and ZMODEM protocols, etc. And the fact that it starts in a "disconnected" state which must seemingly be repaired by sending a modem connect string just plain sucks. I finally ran across gtkterm which is a much simplified serial-only-no-modem program similar to HyperTerminal. (At various points my main reason for keeping a windoze box around was because I needed HyperTerminal, and I couldn't get minicom to work... not a very pretty reason to have an entire other computer.) If all you need is direct serial connect, and you have X sitting around, give gtkterm a whirl.

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(Anonymous)
2004-08-31 12:22 pm UTC (link)
/usr/share/doc/minicom/examples/minirc.nullmodem

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