Serial admin console program

[Alan Johnson]

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Ben Scott <dragonhawk at gmail.com> wrote:

> Run "minicom -s" as root to set defaults.
>
>  Under "Serial port setup", tweak parameters (speed, data bits,
> parity, stop bits, flow control) to appropriate defaults for your
> scenario.  Don't worry about the port device yet.
>
>  Under "Modem and dialing", change init string to an empty string.
> (Quick method: Press A, type a single space, then a single backspace,
> then press [ENTER].)  Do same for reset string and hang-up string.
> Set "Auto bps detect" to no, "Modem has DCD line" to yes if your DCE
> gives DCD, and status line to show DTE speed.
>
>  I like to tweak the "Screen and keyboard" to tune appearance to my
> taste.  If your equipment is doing anything "funny", you may also want
> to disable macros and/or tweak character conversion here.
>
>  Invoke "Save setup as dfl" to make the settings the default.
>
>  Now go back to "Serial port setup", change the device to
> "/dev/ttyS0".  Use "Save setup as..." to save as "com1".  Change
> device to "ttyS1", save as "com2".  Continue up through ttyS3/com4.
>
>  "Exit from Minicom".
>
>  Now you can use "minicom com1" to get COM1, "minicom com2", etc.
>
>  I also usually created a shell alias for "minicom" to "minicom -m -c
> on".  That turns on color, and causes the meta key (spelled "ALT" by
> IBM) to be used for commands.  Thus, [CTRL]+[A] becomes available for
> use in the terminal, and [ALT]+[H], [ALT]+[X], etc., work they way
> they did in Telix and Telemate.
>
>  I haven't done this in a while, but it seemed to all still work the
> same way when I tested it just now.  :)
>
> -- Ben
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>


OK folks, I have finally gotten back to this and have something of a new
twist on the subject.  I have followed Ben's instructions except the bit
about creating com1 and com2 configs (which is very cool) because I only
have the one serial port on this machine.  This essentially creates the
blank config file that MOD posted (thanks, MOD).  Now, this all started
because I confused the hell out the device that is attached by sending some
of these modem strings in the first place, as descibed by MOD.  After
creating starting minicom with the new clean config file, also using the -o
option (thanks Neil).

For what is worth, I actually did all this on my laptop last time I was on
sight and had no problem, so I guess I had a bit of a clue, but must have
forgotten to do it on the server before I connected to the device.  Doh!  I
also used the -t vt100 option to force the correct emulation for this
device, which does seem to help with the presentation of the
text/GUI/menu-ish interface it has.  Since I broke it, I have tired with and
without -t for pretty much every attempt.

Anyway, I still get nothing out of the serial port at boot.  I have had the
device power cycled, I soft rebooted the server it is connected to (which is
a bear to do because it is in use for other things), and then had the device
power cycled several times after that (which is how I cleared things up on a
similar device in a similar situation before).

The question/twist is, is there some way to flush or empy out the buffer on
a serial port?  I am convinced that the serial port is still confusing
things.  I have had the colo guys leave the device powered off for now and
will try again soon hoping things will clear them selves out over time.  Any
suggestions on resetting buffers or other ideas that might help would be
much appreciated in the mean time.

Thanks to you all for the suggestions so far.  I love the screen idea, tried
it, and got nothing just as with minicom.  I will try it again after I see
things working.  I also want to try the mapping to a TCP port for telnet
access, but again, will wait until I know it is working so I know what to
expect.

__________________
Alan Johnson
alan at datdec.com
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