minicom

MINICOM(1) Version 2.7 MINICOM(1)

NAME

   minicom - friendly serial communication program

SYNOPSIS

   minicom [options] [configuration]

DESCRIPTION

   minicom  is  a  communication program which somewhat resembles the shareware program TELIX but is free with source code and runs under most Unices.  Features
   include dialing directory with auto-redial, support for UUCP-style lock files on serial devices, a separate script language  interpreter,  capture  to  file,
   multiple users with individual configurations, and more.

COMMAND-LINE

   -s, --setup
        Setup.  Root edits the system-wide defaults in /etc/minicom/minirc.dfl with this option.  When it is used, minicom does not initialize, but puts you di‐
        rectly into the configuration menu. This is very handy if minicom refuses to start up because your system has changed, or for the  first  time  you  run
        minicom. For most systems, reasonable defaults are already compiled in.

   -o, --noinit
        Do not initialize. Minicom will skip the initialization code.  This option is handy if you quit from minicom without resetting, and then want to restart
        a session. It is potentially dangerous though: no check for lock files etc. is made, so a normal user could interfere with  things  like  UUCP...  maybe
        this will be taken out later. For now it is assumed, that users who are given access to a modem are responsible enough for their actions.

   -m, --metakey
        Override  command-key with the Meta or ALT key. This is the default in 1.80 and it can also be configured in one of minicom's menus, but if you use dif‐
        ferent terminals all the time, of which some don't have a Meta or ALT key, it's handy to set the default command key to Ctrl-A and use this option  when
        you  have  a  keyboard supporting Meta or ALT keys. Minicom assumes that your Meta key sends the ESC prefix, not the other variant that sets the highest
        bit of the character.

   -M, --metakey8
        Same as -m, but assumes that your Meta key sets the 8th bit of the character high (sends 128 + character code).

   -z, --statline
        Use terminal status line. This only works on terminals that support it and that have the relevant information in their termcap or terminfo database  en‐
        try.

   -l, --ansi
        Literal translation of characters with the high bit set. With this flag on, minicom will try to translate the IBM line characters to ASCII. Many PC-unix
        clones will display character correctly without translation (Linux in a special mode, Coherent and SCO).

   -L, --iso
        Ditto but assume screen uses an ISO8859 character set.

   -w, --wrap
        Turns line-wrap on at startup by default.

   -H, --displayhex
        Turn on output in hex mode.

   -a, --attrib=on/off
        Attribute usage. Some terminals, notably Televideo's, have rotten attribute handling (serial instead of parallel). By default, minicom uses '-a on', but
        if you are using such a terminal you can (must!)  supply the option '-a off'. The trailing 'on' or 'off' is needed.

   -t, --term=TERM
        Terminal  type. With this flag, you can override the environment TERM variable.  This is handy for use in the MINICOM environment variable; one can cre‐
        ate a special termcap entry for use with minicom on the console, that initializes the screen to raw mode so that in conjunction with the  -l  flag,  the
        IBM line characters are displayed untranslated.

   -c, --color=on/off
        Color  usage.  Some  terminals (such as the Linux console) support color with the standard ANSI escape sequences. Because there is apparently no termcap
        support for color, these escape sequences are hard-coded into minicom. Therefore this option is off by default.  You can turn it on with '-c on'.  This,
        and the '-m' option, are good candidates to put into the MINICOM environment variable.

   -S, --script=SCRIPT
        script.   Run  the named script at startup. So far, passing username and password to a startup script is not supported. If you also use the -d option to
        start dialing at startup, the -S script will be run BEFORE dialing the entries specified with -d.

   -d, --dial=ENTRY
        Dial an entry from the dialing directory on startup. You can specify an index number, but also a substring of the name of the entry. If  you  specify  a
        name  that  has  multiple  entries in the directory, they are all tagged for dialing. You can also specify multiple names or index numbers by separating
        them with commas. The dialing will start from the first entry specified after all other program initialization procedures are completed.

   -p, --ptty=TTYP
        Pseudo terminal to use. This overrides the terminal port defined in the configuration files, but only if it is a pseudo TTY. The filename supplied  must
        be of the form (/dev/)tty[p-z/][0-f], (/dev/)pts[p-z/][0-f] or (/dev/)pty[p-z/][0-f]. For example, /dev/ttyp1, pts/0 or /dev/ptyp2.

   -C, --capturefile=FILE
        filename.  Open capture file at startup.

   --capturefile-buffer-mode=MODE
        Buffering mode of capture file. MODE can be one of:
           N  Unbuffered (the default).
           L  Line buffered.
           F  Fully buffered.

   -F, --statlinefmt
        Format for the status line. The following format specifier are available:
           %H  Escape key for help screen.
           %V  Version string of minicom.
           %b  Information on connection, such as baud rate.
           %T  Terminal type.
           %C  Cursor mode.
           %D  Device path, possibly shorted to remaining available space.
           %t  Online time.
           %%  % character.

        Example: "%H for help | %b | Minicom %V | %T | %C | %t"

   -b, --baudrate
        Specify the baud rate, overriding the value given in the configuration file.

   -D, --device
        Specify the device, overriding the value given in the configuration file.

   -O, --option
        Set an option. The argument can be a single word, or a key=value pair.  Recognized options:

        timestamp with values simple, delta, persecond, and extended. If no value is given, 'simple' is selected.

   -R, --remotecharset
        Specify the character set of the remote system is using and convert it to the character set of the local side. Example might be 'latin1'.

   -7, --7bit
        7bit mode for terminals which aren't 8bit capable. 8bit is default if the environment is configured for this via LANG or LC_ALL, 7bit otherwise.

   -8, --8bit
        8bit characters pass through without any modification.  'Continuous' means no locate/attribute control sequences are inserted without real change of lo‐
        cate/attribute. This mode is to display 8bit multi-byte characters such as Japanese. Not needed in every language with  8bit  characters.  (For  example
        displaying Finnish text doesn't need this.)

   -h, --help
        Display help and exit.

   -v, --version
        Print the minicom version.

        When minicom starts, it first searches the MINICOM environment variable for command-line arguments, which can be over-ridden on the command line.  Thus,
        if you have done

             MINICOM='-m -c on'
             export MINICOM
        or the equivalent, and start minicom, minicom will assume that your terminal has a Meta or <ALT> key and that color is supported.  If you  then  log  in
        from a terminal without color support, and you have set MINICOM in your startup (.profile or equivalent) file, and don't want to re-set your environment
        variable, you can type 'minicom -c off' and run without color support for that session.

   configuration
        The configuration argument is more interesting. Normally, minicom gets its defaults from a file called "minirc.dfl". If you however give an argument  to
        minicom,  it will try to get its defaults from a file called "minirc.configuration".  So it is possible to create multiple configuration files, for dif‐
        ferent ports, different users etc. Most sensible is to use device names, such as tty1, tty64, sio2 etc. If a user creates his own configuration file, it
        will show up in his home directory as ".minirc.dfl" or ".minirc.configuration".

USE

   Minicom  is window based. To pop-up a window with the function you want, press Control-A (from now on, we will use C-A to mean Control-A), and then the func‐
   tion key (a-z or A-Z). By pressing C-A first and then 'z', a help screen comes up with a short summary of all commands. This escape key can be  altered  when
   minicom is configured (-s option or C-A O), but we'll stick to Control-A for now.

   For every menu the next keys can be used:
   UP     arrow-up or 'k'
   DOWN   arrow-down or 'j'
   LEFT   arrow-left or 'h'
   RIGHT  arrow-right or 'l'
   CHOOSE Enter
   CANCEL ESCape.

   The screen is divided into two portions: the upper 24 lines are the terminal-emulator screen. In this window, ANSI or VT100 escape sequences are interpreted.
   If there is a line left at the bottom, a status line is placed there.  If this is not possible the status line will be showed every time you  press  C-A.  On
   terminals that have a special status line that will be used if the termcap information is complete and the -k flag has been given.

   Possible commands are listed next, in alphabetical order.
   C-A  Pressing  C-A  a  second  time will just send a C-A to the remote system.  If you have changed your "escape character" to something other than C-A, this
        works analogously for that character.
   A    Toggle 'Add Linefeed' on/off. If it is on, a linefeed is added before every carriage return displayed on the screen.
   B    Gives you a scroll back buffer. You can scroll up with u, down with d, a page up with b, a page down with f, and if you have them  the  arrow  and  page
        up/page  down  keys can also be used. You can search for text in the buffer with s (case-sensitive) or S (case-insensitive). N will find the next occur‐
        rence of the string.  c will enter citation mode. A text cursor appears and you specify the start line by hitting Enter key. Then scroll back mode  will
        finish and the contents with prefix '>' will be sent.
   C    Clears the screen.
   D    Dial a number, or go to the dialing directory.
   E    Toggle local echo on and off (if your version of minicom supports it).
   F    A break signal is sent to the modem.
   G    Run script (Go). Runs a login script.
   H    Hangup.
   I    Toggle the type of escape sequence that the cursor keys send between normal and applications mode. (See also the comment about the status line below).
   J    Jump to a shell. On return, the whole screen will be redrawn.
   K    Clears the screen, runs kermit and redraws the screen upon return.
   L    Turn Capture file on off. If turned on, all output sent to the screen will be captured in the file too.
   M    Sends the modem initialization string. If you are online and the DCD line setting is on, you are asked for confirmation before the modem is initialized.
   N    Toggle between timestamp modes to be added to the output.  Available are simple and extended time formats for each line, a delta to the previous line, a
        time display each second and no timestamps (the default).
   O    Configure minicom. Puts you in the configuration menu.
   P    Communication Parameters. Allows you to change the bps rate, parity and number of bits.
   Q    Exit minicom without resetting the modem. If macros changed and were not saved, you will have a chance to do so.
   R    Receive files. Choose from various protocols (external). If you have the filename selection window and the prompt for download directory enabled, you'll
        get  a  selection  window  for  choosing the directory for downloading. Otherwise the download directory defined in the Filenames and paths menu will be
        used.
   S    Send files. Choose the protocol like you do with the receive command. If you don't have the filename selection window enabled (in the File transfer pro‐
        tocols  menu),  you'll just have to write the filename(s) in a dialog window. If you have the selection window enabled, a window will pop up showing the
        filenames in your upload directory. You can tag and untag filenames by pressing spacebar, and move the cursor up and down with the cursor keys  or  j/k.
        The  selected filenames are shown highlighted. Directory names are shown [within brackets] and you can move up or down in the directory tree by pressing
        the spacebar twice. Finally, send the files by pressing ENTER or quit by pressing ESC.
   T    Choose Terminal emulation: Ansi(color) or vt100.  You can also change the backspace key here, turn the status line on or off, and define delay (in  mil‐
        liseconds) after each newline if you need that.
   U    Add carriage return to each received line.
   W    Toggle line-wrap on/off.
   X    Exit minicom, reset modem. If macros changed and were not saved, you will have a chance to do so.
   Y    Paste a file. Reads a file and sends its contests just as if it would be typed in.
   Z    Pop up the help screen.

DIALING DIRECTORY

   By pressing C-A D the program puts you in the dialing directory. Select a command by pressing the capitalized letter or moving cursor right/left with the ar‐
   row keys or the h/l keys and pressing Enter. You can add, delete or edit entries and move them up and down in the directory  list.  By  choosing  "dial"  the
   phone  numbers  of the tagged entries, or if nothing is tagged, the number of the highlighted entry will be dialed. While the modem is dialing, you can press
   escape to cancel dialing. Any other key will close the dial window, but won't cancel the dialing itself. Your dialing directory will be saved into  the  file
   ".dialdir" in your home directory.  You can scroll up and down with the arrow keys, but you can also scroll complete pages by pressing the PageUp or PageDown
   key.  If you don't have those, use Control-B (Backward) and Control-F (Forward). You can use the space bar to tag a number of entries and minicom will rotate
   trough this list if a connection can't be made. A '>' symbol is drawn in the directory before the names of the tagged entries.

   The "edit" menu speaks for itself, but I will discuss it briefly here.
   A - Name  The name for this entry
   B - Number
             and its telephone number.
   C - Dial string #
             Which specific dial string you want to use to connect. There are three different dial strings (prefixes and suffixes) that can be configured in the
             Modem and dialing menu.
   D - Local echo
             can be on or off for this system (if your version of minicom supports it).
   E - Script
             The script that must be executed after a successful connection is made (see the manual for runscript)
   F - Username
             The username that is passed to the runscript program.  It is passed in the environment string "$LOGIN".
   G - Password
             The password is passed as "$PASS".
   H - Terminal Emulation
             Use ANSI or VT100 emulation.
   I - Backspace key sends
             What code (Backspace or Delete) the backspace key sends.
   J - Linewrap
             Can be on or off.
   K - Line settings
             Bps rate, bits, parity and number of stop bits to use for this connection.  You can choose current for the speed, so  that  it  will  use  whatever
             speed is being used at that moment (useful if you have multiple modems).
   L - Conversion table
             You may specify a character conversion table to be loaded whenever this entry answers, before running the login script. If this field is blank, the
             conversion table stays unchanged.
   The edit menu also shows the latest date and time when you called this entry and the total number of calls there, but doesn't let you change them.  They  are
   updated automatically when you connect.

   The  moVe command lets you move the highlighted entry up or down in the dialing directory with the up/down arrow keys or the k and j keys. Press Enter or ESC
   to end moving the entry.

CONFIGURATION

   By pressing C-A O you will be thrown into the setup menu.

   Filenames and paths
     This menu defines your default directories.
     A - Download directory
          where the downloaded files go to.
     B - Upload directory
          where the uploaded files are read from.
     C - Script directory
          Where you keep your login scripts.
     D - Script program
          Which program to use as the script interpreter. Defaults to the program "runscript", but if you want to use something else (eg, /bin/sh  or  "expect")
          it is possible.  Stdin and stdout are connected to the modem, stderr to the screen.
          If the path is relative (ie, does not start with a slash) then it's relative to your home directory, except for the script interpreter.
     E - Kermit program
          Where to find the executable for kermit, and it's options. Some simple macro's can be used on the command line: '%l' is expanded to the complete file‐
          name of the dial out-device, '%f' is expanded to the serial port file descriptor and '%b' is expanded to the current serial port speed.
     F - Logging options
          Options to configure the logfile writing.

          A - File name
               Here you can enter the name of the logfile. The file will be written in your home directory, and the default  value  is  "minicom.log".   If  you
               blank the name, all logging is turned off.

          B - Log connects and hangups
               This  option  defines whether or not the logfile is written when the remote end answers the call or hangs up. Or when you give the hangup command
               yourself or leave minicom without hangup while online.

          C - Log file transfers
               Do you want log entries of receiving and sending files.
     The 'log' command in the scripts is not affected by logging options B and C.  It is always executed, if you just have the name of the log file defined.

   File Transfer Protocols
     Protocols defined here will show up when C-A s/r is pressed.  "Name" in the beginning of the line is the name that will show up in the menu.  "Program"  is
     the  path to the protocol. "Name" after that defines if the program needs an argument, e.g. a file to be transmitted. U/D defines if this entry should show
     up in the upload or the download menu.  Fullscr defines if the program should run full screen, or that minicom will only show it's stderr in a window.  IO-
     Red  defines if minicom should attach the program's standard in and output to the modem port or not. "Multi" tells the filename selection window whether or
     not the protocol can send multiple files with one command. It has no effect on download protocols, and it is also ignored  with  upload  protocols  if  you
     don't  use  the filename selection window. The old sz and rz are not full screen, and have IO-Red set. However, there are curses based versions of at least
     rz that do not want their stdin and stdout redirected, and run full screen.  All file transfer protocols are run with the UID of the  user,  and  not  with
     UID=root.  '%l', '%f' and '%b' can be used on the command line as with kermit.  Within this menu you can also define if you want to use the filename selec‐
     tion window when prompted for files to upload, and if you like to be prompted for the download directory every time the automatic download is  started.  If
     you leave the download directory prompt disabled, the download directory defined in the file and directory menu is used.

   Serial port setup
     A - Serial device
          /dev/tty1  or  /dev/ttyS1 for most people.  /dev/cua<n> is still possible under GNU/Linux, but no longer recommended as these devices are obsolete and
          many systems with kernel 2.2.x or newer don't have them.  Use /dev/ttyS<n> instead.  You may also have /dev/modem as a symlink to the real device.
          If you have modems connected to two or more serial ports, you may specify all of them here in a list separated by  space,  comma  or  semicolon.  When
          Minicom  starts, it checks the list until it finds an available modem and uses that one. (However, you can't specify different init strings to them...
          at least not yet.)
          To use a UNIX socket for communication the device name must be prefixed with "unix#" following by the full path and the filename of the socket.  Mini‐
          com  will then try to connect to this socket as a client. As long as it cannot connect to the socket it stays 'offline'. As soon as the connection es‐
          tablishes, minicom goes 'online'. If the server closes the socket, minicom switches to 'offline' again.
     B - Lock file location
          On most systems This should be /usr/spool/uucp. GNU/Linux systems use /var/lock. If this directory does not exist, minicom will  not  attempt  to  use
          lockfiles.
     C - Callin program
          If you have a uugetty or something on your serial port, it could be that you want a program to be run to switch the modem cq. port into dialin/dialout
          mode. This is the program to get into dialin mode.
     D - Callout program
          And this to get into dialout mode.
     E - Bps/Par/Bits
          Default parameters at startup.

     If one of the entries is left blank, it will not be used. So if you don't care about locking, and don't have a getty running on your modemline, entries B -
     D should be left blank.

   Modem and Dialing
     Here, the parameters for your modem are defined. I will not explain this further because the defaults are for generic Hayes modems, and should work always.
     This file is not a Hayes tutorial :-) The only things worth noticing are that control characters can be sent by prefixing them with a '^',  in  which  '^^'
     means  '^' itself, and the '\' character must also be doubled as '\\', because backslash is used specially in the macro definitions.  Some options however,
     don't have much to do with the modem but more with the behaviour of minicom itself:
     M - Dial time
          The number of seconds before minicom times out if no connection is established.
     N - Delay before redial
          Minicom will redial if no connection was made, but it first waits some time.
     O - Number of tries
          Maximum number of times that minicom attempts to dial.
     P - Drop DTR time
          If you set this to 0, minicom hangs up by sending a Hayes-type hangup sequence. If you specify a non-zero value, the hangup will be done  by  dropping
          the DTR line. The value tells in seconds how long DTR will be kept down.
     Q - Auto bps detect
          If  this  is on, minicom tries to match the dialed party's speed.  With most modern modems this is NOT desirable, since the modem buffers the data and
          converts the speed.
     R - Modem has DCD line
          If your modem, and your O/S both support the DCD line (that goes 'high' when a connection is made) minicom will use it. When you have this option  on,
          minicom will also NOT start dialing while you are already online.
     S - Status line shows DTE speed / line speed
          You can toggle the status line to show either the DTE speed (the speed which minicom uses to communicate with your modem) or the line speed (the speed
          that your modem uses on the line to communicate with the other modem). Notice that the line speed may change during the connection, but you will still
          only  see  the  initial speed that the modems started the connection with. This is because the modem doesn't tell the program if the speed is changed.
          Also, to see the line speed, you need to have the modem set to show it in the connect string.  Otherwise you will only see 0 as the line speed.
     T - Multi-line untag
          You can toggle the feature to untag entries from the dialing directory when a connection is established to a multi-line BBS. All  the  tagged  entries
          that have the same name are untagged.

        Note that a special exception is made for this menu: every user can change all parameters here, but some of them will not be saved.

   Screen and keyboard
     A - Command key is
          the  'Hot  Key' that brings you into command mode. If this is set to 'ALT' or 'meta key', you can directly call commands by alt-key instead of HotKey-
          key.
     B - Backspace key sends
          There still are some systems that want a VT100 to send DEL instead of BS. With this option you can enable that stupidity.  (Eh, it's even  on  by  de‐
          fault...)
     C - Status line is
          Enabled or disabled. Some slow terminals (for example, X-terminals) cause the status line to jump "up and down" when scrolling, so you can turn it off
          if desired. It will still be shown in command-mode.
     D - Alarm sound
          If turned on, minicom will sound an alarm (on the console only) after a successful connection and when up/downloading is complete.
     E - Foreground Color (menu)
          indicates the foreground color to use for all the configuration windows in minicom.
     F - Background Color (menu)
          indicates the background color to use for all the configuration windows in minicom. Note that minicom will not allow you to set foreground  and  back‐
          ground colors to the same value.
     G - Foreground Color (term)
          indicates the foreground color to use in the terminal window.
     H - Background Color (term)
          indicates the background color to use in the terminal window. Note that minicom will not allow you to set foreground and background colors to the same
          value.
     I - Foreground Color (stat)
          indicates the foreground color to use in for the status bar.
     J - Background Color (stat)
          indicates the color to use in for the status bar. Note that minicom will allow you to set the status bar's foreground and  background  colors  to  the
          same value. This will effectively make the status bar invisible but if these are your intentions, please see the option
     K - History buffer size
          The number of lines to keep in the history buffer (for backscrolling).
     L - Macros file
          is  the  full path to the file that holds macros. Macros allow you to define a string to be sent when you press a certain key. In minicom, you may de‐
          fine F1 through F12 to send up to 256 characters [this is set at compile time]. The filename you specify is verified as soon as you hit ENTER. If  you
          do  not  have  permissions  to create the specified file, an error message will so indicate and you will be forced to re-edit the filename. If you are
          permitted to create the file, minicom checks to see if it already exists. If so, it assumes it's a macro file and reads it in. If it isn't, well, it's
          your problem :-) If the file does not exist, the filename is accepted.
     M - Edit Macros
          opens up a new window which allows you to edit the F1 through F12 macros.
     N - Macros enabled
          - Yes or No. If macros are disabled, the F1-F12 keys will just send the VT100/VT220 function key escape sequences.
     O - Character conversion
          The  active  conversion  table  filename is shown here. If you can see no name, no conversion is active. Pressing O, you will see the conversion table
          edit menu.

          Edit Macros
             Here, the macros for F1 through F12 are defined. The bottom of the window shows a legend of character combinations that have special meaning.  They
             allow you to enter special control characters with plain text by prefixing them with a '^', in which '^^' means '^' itself. You can send a 1 second
             delay with the '^~' code. This is useful when you are trying to login after ftp'ing or telnet'ing somewhere.  You can  also  include  your  current
             username  and  password  from the phone directory in the macros with '\u' and '\p', respectively. If you need the backslash character in the macro,
             write it doubled as '\\'.  To edit a macro, press the shown number or letter and you will be moved to the end of the macro. When editing the  line,
             you may use the left & right arrows, Home & End keys, Delete & BackSpace, and ESC and RETURN.  ESC cancels any changes made while ENTER accepts the
             changes.

          Character conversion
             Here you can edit the character conversion table. If you are not an American, you know that in many languages there are characters that are not in‐
             cluded  in the ASCII character set, and in the old times they may have replaced some less important characters in ASCII and now they are often rep‐
             resented with character codes above 127. AND there are various different ways to represent them. This is where you may edit conversion  tables  for
             systems that use a character set different from the one on your computer.

          A - Load table
               You  probably  guessed  it. This command loads a table from the disk.  You are asked a file name for the table.  Predefined tables .mciso, .mcpc8
               and .mcsf7 should be included with the program. Table .mciso does no conversion, .mcpc8 is to be used for connections with systems that  use  the
               8-bit  pc  character  set,  and .mcsf7 is for compatibility with the systems that uses the good old 7-bit coding to replace the characters {|}[]\
               with the diacritical characters used in Finnish and Swedish.

          B - Save table
               This one saves the active table on the filename you specify.

          C - edit char
               This is where you can make your own modifications to the existing table.  First you are asked the character value (in decimal)  whose  conversion
               you  want  to  change.  Next you'll say which character you want to see on your screen when that character comes from the outside world. And then
               you'll be asked what you want to be sent out when you enter that character from your keyboard.

          D - next screen

          E - prev screen
               Yeah, you probably noticed that this screen shows you what kind of conversions are active. The screen just is (usually) too  small  to  show  the
               whole table at once in an easy-to-understand format. This is how you can scroll the table left and right.

          F - convert capture
               Toggles whether or not the character conversion table is used when writing the capture file.

   Save setup as dfl
     Save  the  parameters  as the default for the next time the program is started. Instead of dfl, any other parameter name may appear, depending on which one
     was used when the program was started.

   Save setup as..
     Save the parameters under a special name. Whenever Minicom is started with this name as an argument, it will use these parameters. This option is of course
     privileged to root.

   Exit
     Escape from this menu without saving.  This can also be done with ESC.

   Exit from minicom
     Only  root  will see this menu entry, if he/she started minicom with the '-s' option. This way, it is possible to change the configuration without actually
     running minicom.

STATUS LINE

   The status line has several indicators, that speak for themselves.  The mysterious APP or NOR indicator probably needs explanation. The VT100 cursor keys can
   be  in  two modes: applications mode and cursor mode. This is controlled by an escape sequence. If you find that the cursor keys do not work in, say, vi when
   you're logged in using minicom then you can see with this indicator whether the cursor keys are in applications or cursor mode. You can toggle the  two  with
   the C-A I key. If the cursor keys then work, it's probably an error in the remote system's termcap initialization strings (is).

LOCALES

   Minicom has support for local languages. This means you can change most of the English messages and other strings to another language by setting the environ‐
   ment variable LANG.

MISC

   If minicom is hung, kill it with SIGTERM . (This means kill -15, or since sigterm is default, just plain "kill <minicompid>". This will cause a graceful exit
   of minicom, doing resets and everything.  You may kill minicom from a script with the command "! killall -9 minicom" without hanging up the line. Without the
   -9 parameter, minicom first hangs up before exiting.

   Since a lot of escape sequences begin with ESC (Arrow up is ESC [ A), Minicom does not know if the escape character it gets is you pressing the  escape  key,
   or part of a sequence.

   An old version of Minicom, V1.2, solved this in a rather crude way: to get the escape key, you had to press it twice.

   As  of  release  1.3 this has bettered a little: now a 1-second timeout is builtin, like in vi. For systems that have the select() system call the timeout is
   0.5 seconds. And... surprise: a special Linux-dependent hack :-) was added. Now, minicom can separate the escape key and escape-sequences. To see  how  dirty
   this was done, look into wkeys.c.  But it works like a charm!

DEBIAN SPECIFIC

   In  Debian  GNU/Linux  systems,  minicom is not setuid root. Users that need to use it have to get added to the dialout group in order to use serial port de‐
   vices.

FILES

   Minicom keeps it's configuration files in the directory /etc/minicom.  You'll find the demo files for runscript(1), and the examples of character  conversion
   tables  in /usr/share/doc/minicom. The conversion tables are named something like mc.* in the tables subdirectory, but you probably want to copy the ones you
   need in your home directory as something beginning with a dot.

   minirc.*
   $HOME/.minirc.*
   $HOME/.dialdir
   $HOME/minicom.log
   /usr/share/locale/*/LC_MESSAGES/minicom.mo