1MINICOM(1) Version 2.1 MINICOM(1)
2
6 minicom - friendly serial communication program
7
9 minicom [-somMlwz8] [-c on|off] [-S script] [-d entry]
10 [-a on|off] [-t term] [-p pty] [-C capturefile] [configuration]
11
13 minicom is a communication program which somewhat resembles the share‐
14 ware program TELIX but is free with source code and runs under most
15 Unices. Features include dialing directory with auto-redial, support
16 for UUCP-style lock files on serial devices, a separate script language
17 interpreter, capture to file, multiple users with individual configura‐
18 tions, and more.
19
21 -s Setup. Root edits the system-wide defaults in /etc/minirc.dfl
22 with this option. When it is used, minicom does not initialize,
23 but puts you directly into the configuration menu. This is very
24 handy if minicom refuses to start up because your system has
25 changed, or for the first time you run minicom. For most systems,
26 reasonable defaults are already compiled in.
27 -o Do not initialize. Minicom will skip the initialization code.
29 This option is handy if you quit from minicom without resetting,
30 and then want to restart a session. It is potentially dangerous
31 though: no check for lock files etc. is made, so a normal user
32 could interfere with things like UUCP... maybe this will be taken
33 out later. For now it is assumed, that users who are given access
34 to a modem are responsible enough for their actions.
35 -m Override command-key with the Meta or ALT key. This is the default
37 in 1.80 and it can also be configured in one of minicom's menus,
38 but if you use different terminals all the time, of which some
39 don't have a Meta or ALT key, it's handy to set the default com‐
40 mand key to Ctrl-A and use this option when you have a keyboard
41 supporting Meta or ALT keys. Minicom assumes that your Meta key
42 sends the ESC prefix, not the other variant that sets the highest
43 bit of the character.
44 -M Same as -m, but assumes that your Meta key sets the 8th bit of the
46 character high (sends 128 + character code).
47 -z Use terminal status line. This only works on terminals that sup‐
49 port it and that have the relevant information in their termcap or
50 terminfo database entry.
51 -l Literal translation of characters with the high bit set. With this
53 flag on, minicom will try to translate the IBM line characters to
54 ASCII. Many PC-unix clones will display character correctly with‐
55 out translation (Linux in a special mode, Coherent and SCO).
56 -L Ditto but assume screen uses an ISO8859 character set.
58 -w Turns line-wrap on at startup by default.
60 -a Attribute usage. Some terminals, notably Televideo's, have rotten
62 attribute handling (serial instead of parallel). By default, mini‐
63 com uses '-a on', but if you are using such a terminal you can
64 (must!) supply the option '-a off'. The trailing 'on' or 'off' is
65 needed.
66 -t Terminal type. With this flag, you can override the environment
68 TERM variable. This is handy for use in the MINICOM environment
69 variable; one can create a special termcap entry for use with
70 minicom on the console, that initializes the screen to raw mode so
71 that in conjunction with the -l flag, the IBM line characters are
72 displayed untranslated.
73 -c Color usage. Some terminals (such as the Linux console) support
75 color with the standard ANSI escape sequences. Because there is
76 apparently no termcap support for color, these escape sequences
77 are hard-coded into minicom. Therefore this option is off by
78 default. You can turn it on with '-c on'. This, and the '-m'
79 option, are good candidates to put into the MINICOM environment
80 variable.
81 -S script. Run the named script at startup. So far, passing username
83 and password to a startup script is not supported. If you also use
84 the -d option to start dialing at startup, the -S script will be
85 run BEFORE dialing the entries specified with -d.
86 -d Dial an entry from the dialing directory on startup. You can spec‐
88 ify an index number, but also a substring of the name of the
89 entry. If you specify a name that has multiple entries in the
90 directory, they are all tagged for dialing. You can also specify
91 multiple names or index numbers by separating them with commas.
92 The dialing will start from the first entry specified after all
93 other program initialization procedures are completed.
94 -p Pseudo terminal to use. This overrides the terminal port defined
96 in the configuration files, but only if it is a pseudo TTY. The
97 filename supplied must be of the form (/dev/)tty[p-z/][0-f],
98 (/dev/)pts[p-z/][0-f] or (/dev/)pty[p-z/][0-f]. For example,
99 /dev/ttyp1, pts/0 or /dev/ptyp2.
100 -C filename. Open capture file at startup.
102 -T Disable the display of the online time in the status bar.
104 -b Specify the baud rate, overwriting the value given in the configu‐
106 ration file.
107 -D Specify the device, overwriting the value given in the configura‐
109 tion file.
110 -R Specify the character set of the remote system is using and con‐
112 vert it to the character set of the local side. Example might be
113 'latin1'.
114 -7 7bit mode for terminals which aren't 8bit capable. 8bit is default
116 if the environment is configured for this via LANG or LC_ALL, 7bit
117 otherwise.
118 -8 8bit characters pass through without any modification. 'Continu‐
120 ous' means no locate/attribute control sequences are inserted
121 without real change of locate/attribute. This mode is to display
122 8bit multi-byte characters such as Japanese. Not needed in every
123 language with 8bit characters. (For example displaying Finnish
124 text doesn't need this.)
125 When minicom starts, it first searches the MINICOM environment
127 variable for command-line arguments, which can be over-ridden on
128 the command line. Thus, if you have done
129 MINICOM='-m -c on'
131 export MINICOM
132 or the equivalent, and start minicom, minicom will assume that
133 your terminal has a Meta or <ALT> key and that color is supported.
134 If you then log in from a terminal without color support, and you
135 have set MINICOM in your startup (.profile or equivalent) file,
136 and don't want to re-set your environment variable, you can type
137 'minicom -c off' and run without color support for that session.
138 configuration
140 The configuration argument is more interesting. Normally, minicom
141 gets its defaults from a file called "minirc.dfl". If you however
142 give an argument to minicom, it will try to get its defaults from
143 a file called "minirc.configuration". So it is possible to create
144 multiple configuration files, for different ports, different users
145 etc. Most sensible is to use device names, such as tty1, tty64,
146 sio2 etc. If a user creates his own configuration file, it will
147 show up in his home directory as ".minirc.dfl" or ".minirc.config‐
148 uration".
149
151 Minicom is window based. To pop-up a window with the function you want,
152 press Control-A (from now on, we will use C-A to mean Control-A), and
153 then the function key (a-z or A-Z). By pressing C-A first and then 'z',
154 a help screen comes up with a short summary of all commands. This
155 escape key can be altered when minicom is configured (-s option or C-A
156 O), but we'll stick to Control-A for now.
157 For every menu the next keys can be used:
159 UP arrow-up or 'k'
160 DOWN arrow-down or 'j'
161 LEFT arrow-left or 'h'
162 RIGHT arrow-right or 'l'
163 CHOOSE Enter
164 CANCEL ESCape.
165 The screen is divided into two portions: the upper 24 lines are the
167 terminal-emulator screen. In this window, ANSI or VT100 escape
168 sequences are interpreted. If there is a line left at the bottom, a
169 status line is placed there. If this is not possible the status line
170 will be showed every time you press C-A. On terminals that have a spe‐
171 cial status line that will be used if the termcap information is com‐
172 plete and the -k flag has been given.
173 Possible commands are listed next, in alphabetical order.
175 C-A Pressing C-A a second time will just send a C-A to the remote sys‐
176 tem. If you have changed your "escape character" to something
177 other than C-A, this works analogously for that character.
178 A Toggle 'Add Linefeed' on/off. If it is on, a linefeed is added
179 before every carriage return displayed on the screen.
180 B Gives you a scroll back buffer. You can scroll up with u, down
181 with d, a page up with b, a page down with f, and if you have them
182 the arrow and page up/page down keys can also be used. You can
183 search for text in the buffer with s (case-sensitive) or S (case-
184 insensitive). N will find the next occurrence of the string. c
185 will enter citation mode. A text cursor appears and you specify
186 the start line by hitting Enter key. Then scroll back mode will
187 finish and the contents with prefix '>' will be sent.
188 C Clears the screen.
189 D Dial a number, or go to the dialing directory.
190 E Toggle local echo on and off (if your version of minicom supports
191 it).
192 F A break signal is sent to the modem.
193 G Run script (Go). Runs a login script.
194 H Hangup.
195 I Toggle the type of escape sequence that the cursor keys send
196 between normal and applications mode. (See also the comment about
197 the status line below).
198 J Jump to a shell. On return, the whole screen will be redrawn.
199 K Clears the screen, runs kermit and redraws the screen upon return.
200 L Turn Capture file on off. If turned on, all output sent to the
201 screen will be captured in the file too.
202 M Sends the modem initialization string. If you are online and the
203 DCD line setting is on, you are asked for confirmation before the
204 modem is initialized.
205 O Configure minicom. Puts you in the configuration menu.
206 P Communication Parameters. Allows you to change the bps rate, par‐
207 ity and number of bits.
208 Q Exit minicom without resetting the modem. If macros changed and
209 were not saved, you will have a chance to do so.
210 R Receive files. Choose from various protocols (external). If you
211 have the filename selection window and the prompt for download
212 directory enabled, you'll get a selection window for choosing the
213 directory for downloading. Otherwise the download directory
214 defined in the Filenames and paths menu will be used.
215 S Send files. Choose the protocol like you do with the receive com‐
216 mand. If you don't have the filename selection window enabled (in
217 the File transfer protocols menu), you'll just have to write the
218 filename(s) in a dialog window. If you have the selection window
219 enabled, a window will pop up showing the filenames in your upload
220 directory. You can tag and untag filenames by pressing spacebar,
221 and move the cursor up and down with the cursor keys or j/k. The
222 selected filenames are shown highlighted. Directory names are
223 shown [within brackets] and you can move up or down in the direc‐
224 tory tree by pressing the spacebar twice. Finally, send the files
225 by pressing ENTER or quit by pressing ESC.
226 T Choose Terminal emulation: Ansi(color) or vt100. You can also
227 change the backspace key here, turn the status line on or off, and
228 define delay (in milliseconds) after each newline if you need
229 that.
230 W Toggle line-wrap on/off.
231 X Exit minicom, reset modem. If macros changed and were not saved,
232 you will have a chance to do so.
233 Y Paste a file. Reads a file and sends its contests just as if it
234 would be typed in.
235 Z Pop up the help screen.
236
238 By pressing C-A D the program puts you in the dialing directory. Select
239 a command by pressing the capitalized letter or moving cursor
240 right/left with the arrow keys or the h/l keys and pressing Enter. You
241 can add, delete or edit entries and move them up and down in the direc‐
242 tory list. By choosing "dial" the phone numbers of the tagged entries,
243 or if nothing is tagged, the number of the highlighted entry will be
244 dialed. While the modem is dialing, you can press escape to cancel
245 dialing. Any other key will close the dial window, but won't cancel the
246 dialing itself. Your dialing directory will be saved into the file
247 ".dialdir" in your home directory. You can scroll up and down with the
248 arrow keys, but you can also scroll complete pages by pressing the
249 PageUp or PageDown key. If you don't have those, use Control-B (Back‐
250 ward) and Control-F (Forward). You can use the space bar to tag a num‐
251 ber of entries and minicom will rotate trough this list if a connection
252 can't be made. A '>' symbol is drawn in the directory before the names
253 of the tagged entries.
254 The "edit" menu speaks for itself, but I will discuss it briefly here.
256 A - Name The name for this entry
257 B - Number
258 and its telephone number.
259 C - Dial string #
260 Which specific dial string you want to use to connect. There
261 are three different dial strings (prefixes and suffixes) that
262 can be configured in the Modem and dialing menu.
263 D - Local echo
264 can be on or off for this system (if your version of minicom
265 supports it).
266 E - Script
267 The script that must be executed after a successful connec‐
268 tion is made (see the manual for runscript)
269 F - Username
270 The username that is passed to the runscript program. It is
271 passed in the environment string "$LOGIN".
272 G - Password
273 The password is passed as "$PASS".
274 H - Terminal Emulation
275 Use ANSI or VT100 emulation.
276 I - Backspace key sends
277 What code (Backspace or Delete) the backspace key sends.
278 J - Linewrap
279 Can be on or off.
280 K - Line settings
281 Bps rate, bits, parity and number of stop bits to use for
282 this connection. You can choose current for the speed, so
283 that it will use whatever speed is being used at that moment
284 (useful if you have multiple modems).
285 L - Conversion table
286 You may specify a character conversion table to be loaded
287 whenever this entry answers, before running the login script.
288 If this field is blank, the conversion table stays unchanged.
289 The edit menu also shows the latest date and time when you called this
290 entry and the total number of calls there, but doesn't let you change
291 them. They are updated automatically when you connect.
292 The moVe command lets you move the highlighted entry up or down in the
294 dialing directory with the up/down arrow keys or the k and j keys.
295 Press Enter or ESC to end moving the entry.
296
298 By pressing C-A O you will be thrown into the setup menu.
299 Filenames and paths
301 This menu defines your default directories.
302 A - Download directory
303 where the downloaded files go to.
304 B - Upload directory
305 where the uploaded files are read from.
306 C - Script directory
307 Where you keep your login scripts.
308 D - Script program
309 Which program to use as the script interpreter. Defaults to the
310 program "runscript", but if you want to use something else (eg,
311 /bin/sh or "expect") it is possible. Stdin and stdout are con‐
312 nected to the modem, stderr to the screen.
313 If the path is relative (ie, does not start with a slash) then
314 it's relative to your home directory, except for the script
315 interpreter.
316 E - Kermit program
317 Where to find the executable for kermit, and it's options. Some
318 simple macro's can be used on the command line: '%l' is expanded
319 to the complete filename of the dial out-device, '%f' is
320 expanded to the serial port file descriptor and '%b' is expanded
321 to the current serial port speed.
322 F - Logging options
323 Options to configure the logfile writing.
324 A - File name
326 Here you can enter the name of the logfile. The file will
327 be written in your home directory, and the default value is
328 "minicom.log". If you blank the name, all logging is
329 turned off.
330 B - Log connects and hangups
332 This option defines whether or not the logfile is written
333 when the remote end answers the call or hangs up. Or when
334 you give the hangup command yourself or leave minicom with‐
335 out hangup while online.
336 C - Log file transfers
338 Do you want log entries of receiving and sending files.
339 The 'log' command in the scripts is not affected by logging options B
340 and C. It is always executed, if you just have the name of the log
341 file defined.
342 File Transfer Protocols
344 Protocols defined here will show up when C-A s/r is pressed. "Name"
345 in the beginning of the line is the name that will show up in the
346 menu. "Program" is the path to the protocol. "Name" after that
347 defines if the program needs an argument, e.g. a file to be transmit‐
348 ted. U/D defines if this entry should show up in the upload or the
349 download menu. Fullscr defines if the program should run full
350 screen, or that minicom will only show it's stderr in a window. IO-
351 Red defines if minicom should attach the program's standard in and
352 output to the modem port or not. "Multi" tells the filename selection
353 window whether or not the protocol can send multiple files with one
354 command. It has no effect on download protocols, and it is also
355 ignored with upload protocols if you don't use the filename selection
356 window. The old sz and rz are not full screen, and have IO-Red set.
357 However, there are curses based versions of at least rz that do not
358 want their stdin and stdout redirected, and run full screen. All
359 file transfer protocols are run with the UID of the user, and not
360 with UID=root. '%l', '%f' and '%b' can be used on the command line as
361 with kermit. Within this menu you can also define if you want to use
362 the filename selection window when prompted for files to upload, and
363 if you like to be prompted for the download directory every time the
364 automatic download is started. If you leave the download directory
365 prompt disabled, the download directory defined in the file and
366 directory menu is used.
367 Serial port setup
369 A - Serial device
370 /dev/tty1 or /dev/ttyS1 for most people. /dev/cua<n> is still
371 possible under GNU/Linux, but no longer recommended as these
372 devices are obsolete and many systems with kernel 2.2.x or newer
373 don't have them. Use /dev/ttyS<n> instead. You may also have
374 /dev/modem as a symlink to the real device.
375 If you have modems connected to two or more serial ports, you
376 may specify all of them here in a list separated by space, comma
377 or semicolon. When Minicom starts, it checks the list until it
378 finds an available modem and uses that one. (However, you can't
379 specify different init strings to them... at least not yet.)
380 To use a UNIX socket for communication the device name must be
381 prefixed with "unix#" following by the full path and the file‐
382 name of the socket. Minicom will then try to connect to this
383 socket as a client. As long as it cannot connect to the socket
384 it stays 'offline'. As soon as the connection establishes, mini‐
385 com goes 'online'. If the server closes the socket, minicom
386 switches to 'offline' again.
387 B - Lock file location
388 On most systems This should be /usr/spool/uucp. GNU/Linux sys‐
389 tems use /var/lock. If this directory does not exist, minicom
390 will not attempt to use lockfiles.
391 C - Callin program
392 If you have a uugetty or something on your serial port, it could
393 be that you want a program to be run to switch the modem cq.
394 port into dialin/dialout mode. This is the program to get into
395 dialin mode.
396 D - Callout program
397 And this to get into dialout mode.
398 E - Bps/Par/Bits
399 Default parameters at startup.
400 If one of the entries is left blank, it will not be used. So if you
402 don't care about locking, and don't have a getty running on your
403 modemline, entries B - D should be left blank.
404 Modem and Dialing
406 Here, the parameters for your modem are defined. I will not explain
407 this further because the defaults are for generic Hayes modems, and
408 should work always. This file is not a Hayes tutorial :-) The only
409 things worth noticing are that control characters can be sent by pre‐
410 fixing them with a '^', in which '^^' means '^' itself, and the '\'
411 character must also be doubled as '\\', because backslash is used
412 specially in the macro definitions. Some options however, don't have
413 much to do with the modem but more with the behaviour of minicom
414 itself:
415 M - Dial time
416 The number of seconds before minicom times out if no connection
417 is established.
418 N - Delay before redial
419 Minicom will redial if no connection was made, but it first
420 waits some time.
421 O - Number of tries
422 Maximum number of times that minicom attempts to dial.
423 P - Drop DTR time
424 If you set this to 0, minicom hangs up by sending a Hayes-type
425 hangup sequence. If you specify a non-zero value, the hangup
426 will be done by dropping the DTR line. The value tells in sec‐
427 onds how long DTR will be kept down.
428 Q - Auto bps detect
429 If this is on, minicom tries to match the dialed party's speed.
430 With most modern modems this is NOT desirable, since the modem
431 buffers the data and converts the speed.
432 R - Modem has DCD line
433 If your modem, and your O/S both support the DCD line (that goes
434 'high' when a connection is made) minicom will use it. When you
435 have this option on, minicom will also NOT start dialing while
436 you are already online.
437 S - Status line shows DTE speed / line speed
438 You can toggle the status line to show either the DTE speed (the
439 speed which minicom uses to communicate with your modem) or the
440 line speed (the speed that your modem uses on the line to commu‐
441 nicate with the other modem). Notice that the line speed may
442 change during the connection, but you will still only see the
443 initial speed that the modems started the connection with. This
444 is because the modem doesn't tell the program if the speed is
445 changed. Also, to see the line speed, you need to have the modem
446 set to show it in the connect string. Otherwise you will only
447 see 0 as the line speed.
448 T - Multi-line untag
449 You can toggle the feature to untag entries from the dialing
450 directory when a connection is established to a multi-line BBS.
451 All the tagged entries that have the same name are untagged.
452 Note that a special exception is made for this menu: every user
454 can change all parameters here, but some of them will not be
455 saved.
456 Screen and keyboard
458 A - Command key is
459 the 'Hot Key' that brings you into command mode. If this is set
460 to 'ALT' or 'meta key', you can directly call commands by alt-
461 key instead of HotKey-key.
462 B - Backspace key sends
463 There still are some systems that want a VT100 to send DEL
464 instead of BS. With this option you can enable that stupidity.
465 (Eh, it's even on by default...)
466 C - Status line is
467 Enabled or disabled. Some slow terminals (for example, X-termi‐
468 nals) cause the status line to jump "up and down" when
469 scrolling, so you can turn it off if desired. It will still be
470 shown in command-mode.
471 D - Alarm sound
472 If turned on, minicom will sound an alarm (on the console only)
473 after a successful connection and when up/downloading is com‐
474 plete.
475 E - Foreground Color (menu)
476 indicates the foreground color to use for all the configuration
477 windows in minicom.
478 F - Background Color (menu)
479 indicates the background color to use for all the configuration
480 windows in minicom. Note that minicom will not allow you to set
481 foreground and background colors to the same value.
482 G - Foreground Color (term)
483 indicates the foreground color to use in the terminal window.
484 H - Background Color (term)
485 indicates the background color to use in the terminal window.
486 Note that minicom will not allow you to set foreground and back‐
487 ground colors to the same value.
488 I - Foreground Color (stat)
489 indicates the foreground color to use in for the status bar.
490 J - Background Color (stat)
491 indicates the color to use in for the status bar. Note that
492 minicom will allow you to set the status bar's foreground and
493 background colors to the same value. This will effectively make
494 the status bar invisible but if these are your intentions,
495 please see the option
496 K - History buffer size
497 The number of lines to keep in the history buffer (for
498 backscrolling).
499 L - Macros file
500 is the full path to the file that holds macros. Macros allow you
501 to define a string to be sent when you press a certain key. In
502 minicom, you may define F1 through F10 to send up to 256 charac‐
503 ters [this is set at compile time]. The filename you specify is
504 verified as soon as you hit ENTER. If you do not have permis‐
505 sions to create the specified file, an error message will so
506 indicate and you will be forced to re-edit the filename. If you
507 are permitted to create the file, minicom checks to see if it
508 already exists. If so, it assumes it's a macro file and reads it
509 in. If it isn't, well, it's your problem :-) If the file does
510 not exist, the filename is accepted.
511 M - Edit Macros
512 opens up a new window which allows you to edit the F1 through
513 F10 macros.
514 N - Macros enabled
515 - Yes or No. If macros are disabled, the F1-F10 keys will just
516 send the VT100/VT220 function key escape sequences.
517 O - Character conversion
518 The active conversion table filename is shown here. If you can
519 see no name, no conversion is active. Pressing O, you will see
520 the conversion table edit menu.
521 Edit Macros
523 Here, the macros for F1 through F10 are defined. The bottom
524 of the window shows a legend of character combinations that
525 have special meaning. They allow you to enter special con‐
526 trol characters with plain text by prefixing them with a '^',
527 in which '^^' means '^' itself. You can send a 1 second delay
528 with the '^~' code. This is useful when you are trying to
529 login after ftp'ing or telnet'ing somewhere. You can also
530 include your current username and password from the phone
531 directory in the macros with '\u' and '\p', respectively. If
532 you need the backslash character in the macro, write it dou‐
533 bled as '\\'. To edit a macro, press the number (or letter
534 for F10) and you will be moved to the end of the macro. When
535 editing the line, you may use the left & right arrows, Home &
536 End keys, Delete & BackSpace, and ESC and RETURN. ESC can‐
537 cels any changes made while ENTER accepts the changes.
538 Character conversion
540 Here you can edit the character conversion table. If you are
541 not an American, you know that in many languages there are
542 characters that are not included in the ASCII character set,
543 and in the old times they may have replaced some less impor‐
544 tant characters in ASCII and now they are often represented
545 with character codes above 127. AND there are various differ‐
546 ent ways to represent them. This is where you may edit con‐
547 version tables for systems that use a character set different
548 from the one on your computer.
549 A - Load table
551 You probably guessed it. This command loads a table from
552 the disk. You are asked a file name for the table. Prede‐
553 fined tables .mciso, .mcpc8 and .mcsf7 should be included
554 with the program. Table .mciso does no conversion, .mcpc8
555 is to be used for connections with systems that use the
556 8-bit pc character set, and .mcsf7 is for compatibility
557 with the systems that uses the good old 7-bit coding to
558 replace the characters {|}[]\ with the diacritical charac‐
559 ters used in Finnish and Swedish.
560 B - Save table
562 This one saves the active table on the filename you spec‐
563 ify.
564 C - edit char
566 This is where you can make your own modifications to the
567 existing table. First you are asked the character value
568 (in decimal) whose conversion you want to change. Next
569 you'll say which character you want to see on your screen
570 when that character comes from the outside world. And then
571 you'll be asked what you want to be sent out when you enter
572 that character from your keyboard.
573 D - next screen
575 E - prev screen
577 Yeah, you probably noticed that this screen shows you what
578 kind of conversions are active. The screen just is (usu‐
579 ally) too small to show the whole table at once in an easy-
580 to-understand format. This is how you can scroll the table
581 left and right.
582 F - convert capture
584 Toggles whether or not the character conversion table is
585 used when writing the capture file.
586 Save setup as dfl
588 Save the parameters as the default for the next time the program is
589 started. Instead of dfl, any other parameter name may appear, depend‐
590 ing on which one was used when the program was started.
591 Save setup as..
593 Save the parameters under a special name. Whenever Minicom is started
594 with this name as an argument, it will use these parameters. This
595 option is of course privileged to root.
596 Exit
598 Escape from this menu without saving. This can also be done with
599 ESC.
600 Exit from minicom
602 Only root will see this menu entry, if he/she started minicom with
603 the '-s' option. This way, it is possible to change the configuration
604 without actually running minicom.
605
607 The status line has several indicators, that speak for themselves. The
608 mysterious APP or NOR indicator probably needs explanation. The VT100
609 cursor keys can be in two modes: applications mode and cursor mode.
610 This is controlled by an escape sequence. If you find that the cursor
611 keys do not work in, say, vi when you're logged in using minicom then
612 you can see with this indicator whether the cursor keys are in applica‐
613 tions or cursor mode. You can toggle the two with the C-A I key. If the
614 cursor keys then work, it's probably an error in the remote system's
615 termcap initialization strings (is).
616
618 Minicom has support for local languages. This means you can change most
619 of the English messages and other strings to another language by set‐
620 ting the environment variable LANG.
621
623 If minicom is hung, kill it with SIGTERM . (This means kill -15, or
624 since sigterm is default, just plain "kill <minicompid>". This will
625 cause a graceful exit of minicom, doing resets and everything. You may
626 kill minicom from a script with the command "! killall -9 minicom"
627 without hanging up the line. Without the -9 parameter, minicom first
628 hangs up before exiting.
629 Since a lot of escape sequences begin with ESC (Arrow up is ESC [ A),
631 Minicom does not know if the escape character it gets is you pressing
632 the escape key, or part of a sequence.
633 An old version of Minicom, V1.2, solved this in a rather crude way: to
635 get the escape key, you had to press it twice.
636 As of release 1.3 this has bettered a little: now a 1-second timeout is
638 builtin, like in vi. For systems that have the select() system call the
639 timeout is 0.5 seconds. And... surprise: a special Linux-dependent hack
640 :-) was added. Now, minicom can separate the escape key and escape-
641 sequences. To see how dirty this was done, look into wkeys.c. But it
642 works like a charm!
643
645 Minicom keeps it's configuration files in one directory, usually
646 /var/lib/minicom, /usr/local/etc or /etc. To find out what default
647 directory minicom has compiled in, issue the command minicom -h.
648 You'll probably also find the demo files for runscript(1), and the
649 examples of character conversion tables either there or in the subdi‐
650 rectories of /usr/doc/minicom*. The conversion tables are named some‐
651 thing like mc.* in that directory, but you probably want to copy the
652 ones you need in your home directory as something beginning with a dot.
653 minirc.*
655 $HOME/.minirc.*
656 $HOME/.dialdir
657 $HOME/minicom.log
658 /usr/share/locale/*/LC_MESSAGES/minicom.mo
659
661 runscript(1)
662
664 Please report any bugs to minicom-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org. Thank
665 you!
666
668 The original author of minicom is Miquel van Smoorenburg
669 (miquels@cistron.nl). He wrote versions up to 1.75.
670 Jukka Lahtinen (walker@netsonic.fi, jukkal@despammed.com) has been
671 responsible for new versions since 1.78, helped by some other people,
672 including:
673 filipg@paranoia.com wrote the History buffer searching to 1.79.
674 Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo (acme@conectiva.com.br) did the international‐
675 ization and the Brazilian Portuguese translations.
676 Jim Seymour (jseymour@jimsun.LinxNet.com) wrote the multiple modem sup‐
677 port and the filename selection window used since 1.80.
678 Tomohiro Kubota (kubota@debian.or.jp) wrote the Japanese translations
679 and the citation facility, and did some fixes.
680 Gael Queri (gqueri@mail.dotcom.fr) wrote the French translations.
681 Arkadiusz Miskiewicz (misiek@pld.org.pl) wrote the Polish translations.
682 Kim Soyoung (nexti@chollian.net) wrote the Korean translations.
683 Jork Loeser (jork.loeser@inf.tu-dresden.de) provided the socket exten‐
684 sion.
685 Most of this man page is copied, with corrections, from the original
687 minicom README, but some pieces and the corrections are by Michael K.
688 Johnson.
689 Jukka Lahtinen (walker@netsonic.fi) has added some information of the
691 changes made after version 1.75.
692User's Manual $Date: 2009-07-25 09:18:02 $ MINICOM(1)