How do I connect to TTY/COM (/dev/ttyUSB0)?

Question

I am running Ubuntu for the first time by booting from a USB drive. Now I have plugged in a USB-to-serial converter which has been recognized and automatically added as /dev/ttyUSB0.

How do I access /dev/ttyUSB0?

See also https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/22545/9454 – Martin Schröder May 21 '19 at 14:41 — Martin Schröder, May 21 '19 at 14:41

score 99 · Accepted Answer · edited May 07 '11 at 12:30

99

Use one of screen's lesser known features:

screen /dev/ttyUSB0

edited May 07 '11 at 12:30

Marco Ceppi

48,887

answered May 07 '11 at 12:08

Douglas

1,022

38

if you need to specify the baud rate, add it after the serial device. eg, for 57600 baud: screen /dev/ttyUSB0 57600 – Jeremy Kerr Mar 13 '12 at 12:45
18

Note that if you want to detach from the terminal and CTRL-D isn't cutting it, use CTRL-A then k to kill screen. I had to use this with the TTY at ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/com.docker.driver.amd64-linux/tty provided by Docker for Mac. CTRL-A then d will work too, but will leave your screen session running, which may or may not be what you want. – Vanessa Phipps Nov 17 '16 at 17:14
1

Most people using this will also want to specify -ixon: screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200,-ixon. If this isn't specified and the remote device ever sends a 0x13 (^S), screen will start buffering everything you type and it won't send it until the remote device sends a 0x11 (^Q). See info screen 'Window Types' for more on this. – enigmaticPhysicist Apr 29 '23 at 11:27

score 17 · Answer 2 · answered May 22 '16 at 19:52

17

You could use tio - a simple tty terminal I/O application:

tio /dev/ttyUSB0

See http://tio.github.io

answered May 22 '16 at 19:52

Martin Lund

179

Available on MinGW! Great! – calandoa Apr 25 '22 at 14:27
This is an incredible piece of software. Thanks Martin! – Victor Yarema Nov 03 '23 at 14:32

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 15 '13 at 08:55

13

busybox microcom -t 5000 /dev/ttyUSB0

Source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1471241

answered Apr 15 '13 at 08:55

Sepero

4,637

score 8 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 04 '18 at 14:56

You can use picocom, it is a minimal dumb-terminal emulation program. Basic usage is something like this (change 11520 to the desired baud rate):

$ picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0

You have all the options you may want from a dumb-terminal program, like stop bits, parity, local echo, carriage return / line feed / backspace / delete / tab translation, X/Y/Z-modem and ASCII transfer integration, etc.

See man picocom and picocom --help for further information.

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 15 '12 at 05:18

you can use ckermit also. It should be in the repository. After installing it create a file in your home directory called .mykermrc then add the 5 following lines:

set line /dev/ttyUSB0   
set flow-control none  
set carrier-watch off  
set speed 115200  
connect

parameters can be adjusted as necessary.
save the file.
to start it

sudo kermit

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered May 07 '11 at 11:24

5

You can use putty. Its an ssh/serial/telnet client for Windows and Linux. You can download it from http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/Networking/PuTTY-347.shtml

answered May 07 '11 at 11:24

binW

13,204

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 04 '20 at 13:38

4

Or

minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0

If you need to configure it first, then

minicom -s

If you're wondering where's the meta key in MacOS, you will need to plan an escape. For other options, -h for help.

answered Jan 04 '20 at 13:38

sean

141

Chef Pharaoh · Answer 8 · 2019-11-27T16:17:42.300

2

I was using puTTY to connect to the serial ports. But don't forget to add your user to dialout: sudo adduser <username> dialout then reboot the system.

After that, you can use puTTY for serial connections such as /dev/ttyUSB0.

edited Nov 27 '19 at 16:17

answered Aug 29 '14 at 19:54

Chef Pharaoh

219

5

it is actually enough to simply log out and back in again. – Azsgy Jul 24 '15 at 19:04

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Nov 27 '19 at 10:50

2

Needed Mint 17.1 to talk to my Arduino, after a little chasing around, it turns out that your user must be part of the dialout group to use the tty. This should apply to Ubuntu as well. You can do so either by running the command:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout username

Or graphically, by using:

Administration → Users & Groups → Manage Groups

In which case you would go to the line for dialout, check the properties to ensure that username is ticked, if not username must be added.

This worked for me and by the look of lots of posts others have had the same problem.

edited Nov 27 '19 at 10:50

Eliah Kagan

119,820

answered Dec 24 '14 at 14:03

duncan keith

63

18

-1 for sudo gedit /etc/group. Don't. Just don't. Learn how to add a user to a group using usermod or adduser for example. And your post is more of a comment rather than an answer to the question, because you don't actually show how to connect. – gertvdijk Dec 24 '14 at 14:36

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 25 '20 at 10:04

1

Tio without GUI or CuteCom with GUI.

answered Aug 25 '20 at 10:04

Honghe.Wu

417

score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Apr 24 '13 at 06:53

1

Using Lucid and a Dynamode USB to RS232 cable:

Plugged it in
ran kermit
set line /dev/ttyUSB0    <<-- mind the capitals/lowecase
connect
set speed 9600
...

and successfully connected to an RS232 port on an OpenVMS server.

edited Apr 24 '13 at 06:53

Radu Rădeanu

174,437

answered Apr 24 '13 at 05:22

Henry Crun

11
1

How do I connect to TTY/COM (/dev/ttyUSB0)?

11 Answers11