Using a nice console with ‘Duinos

The Arduino IDE serial console sucks! (the entire Arduino IDE kind of sucks, but one fix at a time).

I first tried to use the native Minicom package, the most up to date one I found was version 2.2 (compiled Mar 16 2007), it can be installed and set up using the following:

1. Download and run the  minicom 2.2 package installer.
2. In Terminal (or iTerm2 if you are awesome)  manually edit your $PATH with

   sudo nano /private/etc/paths

3. Add the following line to the bottom of the file:

   /opt/minicom/2.2/bin

   save and exit – then relaunch the terminal.

4. Test for the version, by running minicom –version This is what I get:

   minicom version 2.2 (compiled Mar 16 2007)

After installing version 2.2 I found a more up to date version of minicom in Homebrew, I removed the folder minicom from the folder opt:

cd /opt/
sudo rm -r /minicom/

And removed the line from /private/etc/paths, to install the Homebrew version:

1. copy pasta

   ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL //raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

   into a terminal window, and follow the instructions

2. after it has completed it will ask you to run brew doctor
3. run brew install minicom
4. Test for the version, by running minicom –version This is what I get:

   minicom version 2.7 (compiled Mar 24 2015)

Now add the following BASH function to your ~/.bash_profile file:

function console {
modem=`ls -1 /dev/tty.wch* | grep -vi bluetooth | tail -1 | cut -d" " -f2-`
baud=${
1:-9600}
if [ ! -z "$modem" ]; then
minicom -D $modem -b $baud -c on
else
echo "No Arduino thing found :("
fi
}

Depending on what type of Ardiuno you use, depends on what you need to type into the “/dev/tty.wch*” part (tty.wch* is from my cheap Chinese ‘Duino clones). This can be found using the Arduino IDE and reading it out of the bottom corner.

Then you can use it as follows – in Terminal type:

console

In Minicom, commands can be called by Escape-A , for example:

• Change your serial port settings with Escape-A P
• Press Escape-A Z for a Command Summary, and help on special keys.
• Enter Escape-A X to quit.