Kermit

Kermit is a serial line terminal emulator that allows you to take control of your board through the RS232 line. With it you can have access to the Linux console of your board without any keyboard/screen need. (For more informations)

Installation

On *Ubuntu / Debian

$ sudo apt-get install ckermit

or use Synaptic graphical package manager.

On Fedora

# rpm -q ckermit

Configuration

• Edit/Create .kermrc file in your $HOME directory and fill it with:

set line /dev/ttyS0
set speed 115200
set carrier-watch off
set handshake none
set flow-control none
robust
set file type bin
set file name lit
set rec pack 1000
set send pack 1000
set window 5
set transmit linefeed on

• In this example, we assume that your serial port is ttyS0 (first serial port). Change this to correct value if necessary.
• If you use an USB <-> Serial converter then serial port would surely be named like that: ttyUSB0
  • If USB <-> Serial converter doesn't seem to work, run the dmesg command. You should read this thread if you see some disconnection data like this :

[ 2445.568000] usb 1-1.4: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 22
...
[ 2446.964000] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[ 2446.964000] ftdi_sio 1-1.4:1.0: device disconnected

• If you get an error message such:

$ kermit -c
 /dev/ttyS0 
 ?SET SPEED has no effect without prior SET LINE 

check that you have read/write rights on /dev/ttyS0 (ie your serial port)

Usage

• To launch it:

$ kermit -c

• To switch from terminal mode to command mode:

CTRL + \ then c

• To switch from command mode to terminal mode:

C-Kermit>c then ENTER

• To quit:

Switch in command mode
C-Kermit>q then ENTER

Links

• http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html