Minicom Installation and Serial Console Setup Documentation

Introduction

This documentation will guide you through installing Minicom and configuring it to communicate with a serial console device on your system. Minicom is a text-based terminal emulation program that allows you to interact with serial devices, such as microcontrollers, routers, or other hardware components.

Step 1: Installing Minicom

Before you can use Minicom to communicate with your serial console, you need to install the software. To install Minicom, open a terminal and enter the following command:

sudo apt install minicom

sudo usermod -a -G dialout,uucp $USER

This command will use the apt package manager to install Minicom on your system.

Step 2: Identifying the Serial Console

To configure Minicom, you need to identify the serial console device you want to communicate with. You can use the dmesg command in combination with grep to search for relevant information about the serial console. Run the following command:

dmesg | grep tty

This command will display a list of devices with information about their corresponding tty (terminal) devices. Look for a line that resembles the following:

[6966.794234] usb 1-5: Keyspan 1 port adapter converter now attached to ttyUSB0

In this example, the serial console is connected via USB, and the tty device is ttyUSB0. Note down the tty device name for future reference.

Step 3: Configuring Minicom

Now that you have identified the tty device for your serial console, you can configure Minicom.

1. Open the Minicom configuration menu by running the following command:

minicom -s

This command launches Minicom in setup mode, allowing you to configure the serial port settings.

2. Navigate through the Minicom setup menu using the following keys and settings:

   • Press A to set the "Serial Device." Enter the tty device name you identified earlier (e.g., /dev/ttyUSB0).
   • Press ENTER to confirm the selection.
   • Press F to set "Hardware Flow Control." Choose "NO" for this setting.
   • Press E to configure the "Bps/Par/Bits" setting. Enter the appropriate values for your serial console (e.g., "9600 8N1" for 9600 baud rate, 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit).
   • Press ENTER to confirm the selection.

   | A -    Serial Device      : /dev/ttyUSB0                              |
   | B - Lockfile Location     : /var/lock                                 |
   | C -   Callin Program      :                                           |
   | D -  Callout Program      :                                           |     
   | E -    Bps/Par/Bits       : 9600 8N1                                  |     
   | F - Hardware Flow Control : Yes                                       |     
   | G - Software Flow Control : No                                        |     
   |                                                                       |     
   |    Change which setting?                                              |  
   +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+  
           | Screen and keyboard      |                    
           | Save setup as dfl        |                    
           | Save setup as..          |                    
           | Exit                     |                    
           | Exit from Minicom        |                    
           +--------------------------+     

3. After configuring the necessary settings, press ENTER again to save the changes.

4. Optionally, you can save this configuration as a named profile. Press ENTER to access the menu, select "Save setup as...," and enter a name (e.g., "aruba"). This allows you to easily load this configuration in the future.

Step 4: Running Minicom

To use Minicom with the configured settings, run the following command:

minicom aruba

Replace "aruba" with the name you chose for your configuration profile if different.

You should now be connected to your serial console via Minicom and can interact with the connected device.

Conclusion

This documentation has guided you through the installation and configuration of Minicom to communicate with a serial console device on your system. You can use Minicom to manage and troubleshoot various hardware components using the serial interface.