minicom(1)
minicom is a menu-driven communication program for interacting with serial devices and modems.
Synopsis
minicom [OPTION]... [configuration]Description
minicom is a terminal emulation program designed for serial communication with devices like modems, routers, microcontrollers, and other serial equipment. It provides a user-friendly menu-driven interface for establishing and managing serial connections, including features for file transfers, logging, and script automation.
The program reads configuration files from the system directory and user's home directory, allowing quick access to pre-configured serial connections. It supports various protocols for file transfer (Zmodem, Ymodem, Xmodem, Kermit) and can capture sessions to files for later review.
Common options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
-s | enter setup mode to configure serial port, baud rate, flow control, and other settings |
-c | enable color output for the terminal interface |
-z | use suspend (Ctrl-Z) to suspend minicom and return to shell |
-o | do not initialize modem; go directly to terminal mode (offline) |
-D | specify serial device (e.g., /dev/ttyUSB0) to connect to |
-b | set the baud rate (e.g., 9600, 115200) |
-l | turn on logging to a file from the start |
-C | specify capture file for session logging |
-S | run script file at startup (typically for modem initialization) |
-w | set terminal to 80 columns |
Examples
start minicom using the default configuration (usually 'dfl')
minicomconnect to a serial device at /dev/ttyUSB0 with 115200 baud rate
minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 115200enter setup mode to configure serial port, modem, and screen settings interactively
minicom -sstart minicom and log the entire session to mylog.txt
minicom -C mylog.txtload the 'raspi' configuration without modem initialization (offline mode)
minicom -o raspiconnect to /dev/ttyUSB0 and run myinit.sh script automatically at startup
minicom -S myinit.sh -D /dev/ttyUSB0start minicom with logging enabled, saving output to mylog.txt
minicom -l -L mylog.txtstart minicom with color mode enabled for better terminal appearance
minicom -c on