What programs can act as a terminal and access serial ports?
This is not for terminal access on an IP connection, this is so I can access a hardware device plugged into a USB/serial converter running at 9600/8/N/1.
12 Answers
There's a new Mac app called Serial, available in the app store. Full disclosure- I wrote it. The main advantage over other apps is it can work with most USB to serial devices without having to install any drivers, as it has its own drivers built-in. It also does full terminal emulation so you can use it to work with Linux or other devices that require it. You can try it for free, too.
Also, Apple began including their own driver for FTDI-based devices in Mavericks (10.9). So, if you're on 10.9 or later and your device has an FTDI chip inside, you can use the built-in screen command in the terminal to access your device without worrying about drivers.
You can use the terminal command screen
to do this!!!
As seen on ServerFault:
I love using [screen] for connecting to serial consoles, i.e.
Or, if you prefer Mac OS X hints...
I often have to do router configuration via a console port, so I use a Keyspan Serial Adapter to get access. Two problems then present themselves: ZTerm is a horrible Mac OS X app. It hasn't been updated in five years or so, and isn't a Universal Binary. The developer doesn't seem in any hurry to rectify the situation. It is not worth the shareware fee in its current form. Minicom requires installation of Fink or MacPorts and is overly complex. Solution: Use screen, Terminal, and a little AppleScripting.
First, launch Script Editor and type/paste in the following code:
Compile and save as an app from within Script Editor, and you have a double-clickable application to launch a serial Terminal session. You may want to customize this slightly -- you can change the screen colors or number of columns or rows. You may also need to customize the screen command with a different device name if you are using something other than the Keyspan Serial Adapter (do an ls tty* of the /dev/ directory to get the right name).
screen uses Control-A to take commands directed to it. So type Control-A followed by Control- to exit your screen session. If you fail to do this and exit a Terminal session, you'll leave the screen session alive and the serial resource unavailable until you kill the screen session manually. man screen will show you further commands to send to a screen session.
If anyone can reply with a link to a tutorial on how to wrap an interactive Unix App in Cocoa, that would be the next step -- it would be nice to do this without involving Terminal. If you prefer to use Minicom, you could still use the AppleScript to wrap it into a nice launchable app -- use this older hint to find the right command line commands.
Many USB-Serial adapters use the chip from FTDI. Install the 'Virtual COM Port' driver and look for the proper TTY name in /dev
. For example, on a PowerBook G4 it came up as /dev/tty.usbserial-FTALKY8I
.
The best program I know of for this is minicom
, available from Homebrew, fink, and macports.
Minicom is a serial communication program. It is a Unix clone of the well-known MS-DOS Telix program. It has ANSI color, a dialing directory, dial-a-list, and a scripting language.
My preference is cu
. I use it for Arduino or Bus Pirate related fun. It's installed by default and supports parity settings among other options (type man cu
for more info).
Vt100 Terminal Emulator Windows 10
To bail out when you're done, type ~.
as you would with SSH
If you prefer not to work in Terminal, you might mant to try CoolTerm (free). Scroll down a bit for description and download. Don’t let the fact it‘s written in RealBasic turn you away... I have used it to connect to plotters, Arduino boards and receipt printers via a Keyspan USB<->Serial Adaptor.
You should have a look at ZOC, what I think to be the best terminal emulation program available for the Mac. I use it everyday for my job. It has the ability to do direct communication with a serial port. Of course it does way more than just serial communication.
ZOC is a professional SSH/telnet client and terminal emulator. With its impressive list of emulations it lets you easily connect to hosts and mainframes, using communication methods like secure shell, telnet, serial cable or modem/isdn.
Its sleek user interface has many ways of making your life easier. In its own way, this is the swiss army knife of thin clients: versatile, robust, proven.
Key features:
- Tabbed sessions with thumbnails
- Customizable to meet your preferences and needs
- Scripting and automation features
- Compatible with Windows 7 and OS X Lion
- Administrator friendly (deployment, configuration)
- Now $79.99 with attractive bulk discounts
C-Kermit is alive and well in Brew, and can be installed with:
Naturally you would require Brew to be installed first. You can find information on how to do this here: http://brew.sh
Alternatively use Macports
This would too require you to have Macports installed
And then there still is the old ZTerm which is just as old as it's looks suggest yet it gets the job done just fine and it is available for free. Works fine with Prolific (PL 2303) and FTDI based USB serial adapters.
I have had success with cutecom on Ubuntu 16.04
Supported on OSX: http://cutecom.sourceforge.net/
Another serial terminal for Mac OS X is Cornflake!
It features Device Selection with a Refresh Button, Baud Rate & Packet Type & Flow Control Selection, Port Control and a View Filter to view incoming data as ASCII, ASCII+, Integer or HEX.
After trying other approaches (incl. screen
) unsuccessfully, I started using goSerial from this list of serial port apps for mac. Seems to be working fine. It's a free (donation based) program.
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protected by nohillside♦Jun 17 '18 at 6:33
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This is a list of notable terminal emulators. Most used terminal emulators on Linux and Unix-like systems are GNOME Terminal on GNOME and GTK-based environments, Konsole on KDE, and xfce4-terminal on Xfce as well as xterm.
- 1Character-oriented terminal emulators
- 1.1Unix-like
- 2Block-oriented terminal emulators
Character-oriented terminal emulators[edit]
Unix-like[edit]
Linux[edit]
- Linux console - implements a large subset of the VT102 and ECMA-48/ISO 6429/ANSI X3.64 escape sequences
X Window System[edit]
Terminal emulators used in combination with the X Window System
- xterm - standard terminal for X11
- GNOME Terminal - default terminal for GNOME
- guake - drop-down terminal for GNOME
- konsole - default terminal for KDE
- xfce4-terminal - default terminal for Xfce with drop-down support
- mrxvt - rxvt clone with additional features (latest version is 2008-09-10)
- Terminology - enhanced terminal supportive of multimedia and text manipulation for X11 and Linux framebuffer
- tilda - A drop down terminal
- Yakuake - (Yet Another Kuake), a dropdown terminal for KDE
- x3270 - IBM 3270 emulator for X11 and most Unix-like systems[1]
Command-line interface[edit]
The following terminal emulators run inside of other terminals, utilizing libraries such as Curses and Termcap.
- GNU Screen - Terminal multiplexer with VT100/ANSI terminal emulation
- Minicom - text-based modem control and terminal emulation program for Unix-like operating systems
- tmux - Terminal multiplexer with a feature set similar to GNU Screen
- c3270 - IBM 3270 emulator for running inside a vt100/curses emulator for most Unix-like systems[1]
Apple macOS[edit]
- Terminal - default macOS terminal
- iTerm2 - open-source terminal specifically for macOS
- xterm - default terminal when X11.app starts
- SyncTERM - includes serial line terminal
- ZTerm - serial line terminal
Apple Classic Mac OS[edit]
Microsoft Windows[edit]
- ConEmu - local terminal window that can host console application developed either for WinAPI (cmd, powershell, far) or Unix PTY (cygwin, msys, wsl bash)
- HyperACCESS (commercial) and HyperTerminal (included free with Windows XP and earlier, but not included with Windows Vista and later)
- mintty - Cygwin terminal
- Win32 console – Windows command line terminal
Microsoft MS-DOS[edit]
- Qmodem and Qmodem Pro
IBM OS/2[edit]
- ZOC - discontinued support for OS/2
Commodore Amiga[edit]
Commodore 64[edit]
Block-oriented terminal emulators[edit]
Emulators for block-oriented terminals, primarily IBM 3270, but also IBM 5250 and other non-IBM terminals.
Coax/Twinax connected[edit]
These terminal emulators are used to replace terminals attached to a host or terminal controller via a coaxial cable (coax) or twinaxial cabling (twinax). They require that the computer on which they run have a hardware adapter to support such an attachment.
- RUMBA 3270 and 5250
tn3270/tn5250[edit]
These terminal emulators connect to a host using the tn3270 or tn5250 protocols, which run over a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- The Grumpy Editor's guide to terminal emulators, 2004
- Comprehensive Linux Terminal Performance Comparison, 2007
What is it?
Terminal is a simple serial port (COM) terminalemulation program. It can be used for communication with differentdevices such as modems, routers, embedded uC systems, GSM phones, GPS modules... Itis very useful debugging tool for serial communication applications.
Features
- without installation, only single and small .exe file ~300KB
- simple file send
- Rx and Tx characters counter
- baudrate up to 256kbps & custom baudrate
- up to 64 COM ports
- log to file (hex & string)
- 24 custom transmit macros with auto repeat function
- scripting (with graph/visualization support)
- remote control over TCP/IP - telnet
- run applications from macro commands
- open www sites from macro commands
- request/response macros
- CSV Graph - As a little 2012 New Year's Gift ;)
- 4th/black graph and scale factors for CSV values
- auto scroll checkbox - to prevent auto scrolling
- WriteToFile() procedure in scripting
- %SCRS'script.tsc' and %SCRE commands for macros - check help
- offset for %SUM and %XOR macro commands
- time stamp, scale factors and offsets for CSV graph
- Quit() function in scripting
- parameter/argument to open script file at start up
- Tx char delay strategy changed (real zero delay if value=0)
- hot key changes: DEL=RXClear, ESC=send code 27
- flush buffers on disconnect to avoid 'not responding'
- NEW: macro up to 256 characters
- FIX: lost chars problem...better but not fixed
- FIX: ComSetDTR,ComSetRTS,...LED turn on/off bug
!!! If you have problems with new version you can still download older releases on the bottom of the page !!!
Macros
In macros you can use all characters from keyboard and any ASCIIchar if you use $xx or #xxx. Where $xx is hex and #xxx dec format ofascii code. If you want to use # or $ char in macro you should type ittwice ($$=$ and ##=#).To calculate XOR checksum byte use %XORxx command. To calculate SUM (1byte sum) checksum byte use %SUMxx command. Where xx is offset of first byte for calculation.
To insert delay in macro string use %DLYxxxx, where xxxx is value 0000-9999 in ms.
You can store macro in macro file. Active macro is'saved' even if you don't save it and will be available next time whenyou'll start Terminal. Macro string can be up to 256 characters long.
some examples:
X1##Y2##Z3##$0D$0A - this will send 'X1#Y2#Z3#'CR'LF'
ABC%DLY1000DEF - this will send ABC and after ~1000ms DEF
%RUN'cmd.exe' - this will run command line prompt
%URL'http://www.google.com' - guess what?! ;)
%URL'mailto:[email protected]?subject=terminal&body=test' -
compose mail (without sending)
%M03 - this will send/run macro #3 (there are some limits when using this)
%LOGS - start logging
%LOGE - stop logging
%SCRS'script.tsc' - load and start script
Scripting
Simple pascal syntax scripting is possible. You can write short scripts to do some simple tasks. More about supported command you can find if you click 'Help' button.Below in attachment section you can find few sample scripts to check and test functionality.
TCP/IP remote control
Terminal can also act like telnet server and listen on selected TCP port. You can connect to it with any telnet client program from another computer in network (or over internet from different location) and see what's going on in terminal and send commands etc.Download & Links
Download new version of the Terminal software - version 1.93b 20141030
Terminalis still FREE but if you find this tool useful and if you'd like tosupport this project and make a small donation...here is the simplestway to do it. It's secure, quick and easy. Thank you!
This is not for terminal access on an IP connection, this is so I can access a hardware device plugged into a USB/serial converter running at 9600/8/N/1.
12 Answers
There's a new Mac app called Serial, available in the app store. Full disclosure- I wrote it. The main advantage over other apps is it can work with most USB to serial devices without having to install any drivers, as it has its own drivers built-in. It also does full terminal emulation so you can use it to work with Linux or other devices that require it. You can try it for free, too.
Also, Apple began including their own driver for FTDI-based devices in Mavericks (10.9). So, if you're on 10.9 or later and your device has an FTDI chip inside, you can use the built-in screen command in the terminal to access your device without worrying about drivers.
You can use the terminal command screen
to do this!!!
As seen on ServerFault:
I love using [screen] for connecting to serial consoles, i.e.
Serial Port Terminal Emulator
Or, if you prefer Mac OS X hints...
I often have to do router configuration via a console port, so I use a Keyspan Serial Adapter to get access. Two problems then present themselves: ZTerm is a horrible Mac OS X app. It hasn't been updated in five years or so, and isn't a Universal Binary. The developer doesn't seem in any hurry to rectify the situation. It is not worth the shareware fee in its current form. Minicom requires installation of Fink or MacPorts and is overly complex. Solution: Use screen, Terminal, and a little AppleScripting.
First, launch Script Editor and type/paste in the following code:
Compile and save as an app from within Script Editor, and you have a double-clickable application to launch a serial Terminal session. You may want to customize this slightly -- you can change the screen colors or number of columns or rows. You may also need to customize the screen command with a different device name if you are using something other than the Keyspan Serial Adapter (do an ls tty* of the /dev/ directory to get the right name).
screen uses Control-A to take commands directed to it. So type Control-A followed by Control- to exit your screen session. If you fail to do this and exit a Terminal session, you'll leave the screen session alive and the serial resource unavailable until you kill the screen session manually. man screen will show you further commands to send to a screen session.
If anyone can reply with a link to a tutorial on how to wrap an interactive Unix App in Cocoa, that would be the next step -- it would be nice to do this without involving Terminal. If you prefer to use Minicom, you could still use the AppleScript to wrap it into a nice launchable app -- use this older hint to find the right command line commands.
Many USB-Serial adapters use the chip from FTDI. Install the 'Virtual COM Port' driver and look for the proper TTY name in /dev
. For example, on a PowerBook G4 it came up as /dev/tty.usbserial-FTALKY8I
.
The best program I know of for this is minicom
, available from Homebrew, fink, and macports.
Minicom is a serial communication program. It is a Unix clone of the well-known MS-DOS Telix program. It has ANSI color, a dialing directory, dial-a-list, and a scripting language.
My preference is cu
. I use it for Arduino or Bus Pirate related fun. It's installed by default and supports parity settings among other options (type man cu
for more info).
To bail out when you're done, type ~.
as you would with SSH
If you prefer not to work in Terminal, you might mant to try CoolTerm (free). Scroll down a bit for description and download. Don’t let the fact it‘s written in RealBasic turn you away... I have used it to connect to plotters, Arduino boards and receipt printers via a Keyspan USB<->Serial Adaptor.
You should have a look at ZOC, what I think to be the best terminal emulation program available for the Mac. I use it everyday for my job. It has the ability to do direct communication with a serial port. Of course it does way more than just serial communication.
ZOC is a professional SSH/telnet client and terminal emulator. With its impressive list of emulations it lets you easily connect to hosts and mainframes, using communication methods like secure shell, telnet, serial cable or modem/isdn.
Its sleek user interface has many ways of making your life easier. In its own way, this is the swiss army knife of thin clients: versatile, robust, proven.
Key features:
- Tabbed sessions with thumbnails
- Customizable to meet your preferences and needs
- Scripting and automation features
- Compatible with Windows 7 and OS X Lion
- Administrator friendly (deployment, configuration)
- Now $79.99 with attractive bulk discounts
C-Kermit is alive and well in Brew, and can be installed with:
Naturally you would require Brew to be installed first. You can find information on how to do this here: http://brew.sh
Alternatively use Macports
This would too require you to have Macports installed
Hyperterminal Emulator
And then there still is the old ZTerm which is just as old as it's looks suggest yet it gets the job done just fine and it is available for free. Works fine with Prolific (PL 2303) and FTDI based USB serial adapters.
I have had success with cutecom on Ubuntu 16.04
Supported on OSX: http://cutecom.sourceforge.net/
Another serial terminal for Mac OS X is Cornflake!
It features Device Selection with a Refresh Button, Baud Rate & Packet Type & Flow Control Selection, Port Control and a View Filter to view incoming data as ASCII, ASCII+, Integer or HEX.
After trying other approaches (incl. screen
) unsuccessfully, I started using goSerial from this list of serial port apps for mac. Seems to be working fine. It's a free (donation based) program.
You must log in to answer this question.
protected by nohillside♦Jun 17 '18 at 6:33
Thank you for your interest in this question. Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).
Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged terminal .
I have developed an embedded application which requests status information from a device down a communications channel. My customer requires that these will be sent with a specific time period, so what I am looking for is a PC terminal application which can send a text string command repeatedly at a set interval over a period of time. I currently use a serial device tester which can immediately send back a set string when something is sent to it, but I need to control the time period and number of repititions.
Are there any applications (for Windows) out there which can acheive this?
9 Answers
Docklight / Docklight ScriptingFor testing applications communication over the serial port it is the best tool for the job.It listens for user defined sequences on serial port and can then trigger a transmission with parameters derived from the input message or function in a script.
I wrote a C++ program to test a embedded serial application and it was +/- 1000 lines of code. I was able to replace this with about 20 lines of vb script in Docklight Scripting.
Docklight is definitely worth the money.
I would tend to implement a short python script to do this (it can be compiled to a standalone executable with py2exe if that's what you need). Install python and pyserial. Then use a script like this:
However, if you want a more conventional Windows application, then you can probably do it with Docklight, possibly combined with Docklight Scripting (available from the same site).
The serial terminal emulation application Tera Term, has a scripting language which will be capable of setting up timed loops.
I use RealTerm. You can write scripts for it and have it send that file repeatedly. You can add delays between characters or delays between lines. It's a little buggy sometimes, but it's great for the price (free).
Although answered already, i use http://www.hw-group.com/products/hercules/index_de.html . Their app is free and in the serial tab, i can send and receive data from rs232. works like a charm.
ScriptCommunicator (open-source, cross-platform) is the right tool for you. It has many features and a very useful script interface.
You can use the built in windows task scheduler to run a simple batch script that writes texts to a the com port some think like
But I've not done this is in yers so my syntax is rusty. Otherwise you could use a simple 'termulator' program that supports scripting - again I've not done this in a decade I think.
I'd write a C# program to do this. They have libraries to open the COM ports and timers to time when to send data.
GModLab - cross-platform, scriptable (JS) terminal: https://github.com/tardigrade888/gmodlabYou can write scripts that do anything.