Minicom

Minicom is a command line based serial terminal for serial communication with hardware like our starterkits.

Install Minicom using APT(Debian/Ubuntu)

$ sudo apt install minicom

In order for the terminal to work properly with full rights you need to add your user to the dialout group:

$ sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

Connect Starterkit to Host

To determine the serial device name under linux you can use dmesg. Just run the command below and then plug in the starter kit to see the new detected interface names:

$ dmesg -w

Once the interface name is clear you can abort dmesg with ctrl + c.
Now you can start minicom via the command line interface:

$ minicom -D /dev/ttySx

Configure minicom

The serial configuration should be correct by default. However, hardware flow control must be disabled for some starter kits, otherwise the communication works only in one direction.

1. Press CTRL + A, then press O to open the configuration menu
2. Go to Serial port setup
3. Press F to change Hardware Flow Control to No
4. Hit Return key
5. Select Save setup as dfl to save this configuration as default
6. Press ESC to exit the menu

Now you should be able to communicate with the starter kit

TeraTerm

TeraTerm is an open source terminal emulator for windows. It can be downloaded here.

Configure TeraTerm

1. Download and install TeraTerm
2. Start TeraTerm and open the Serial Port Settings
3. Select your serial port and configure it with the values defined in the chapter Serial Configuration
4. After passing the values click on the button New Setting

Now TeraTerm should be ready for use with our starter kits.