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:
- Download and run the minicom 2.2 package installer.
- In Terminal (or iTerm2 if you are awesome) manually edit your $PATH with
sudo nano /private/etc/paths
- Add the following line to the bottom of the file:
/opt/minicom/2.2/bin
save and exit – then relaunch the terminal.
- Test for the version, by running minicom –version This is what I get:
minicom version 2.2 (compiled Mar 16 2007)
After installing version 2.2 I found a more up to date version of minicom in Homebrew, I removed the folder minicom from the folder opt:
cd /opt/ sudo rm -r /minicom/
And removed the line from /private/etc/paths, to install the Homebrew version:
- copy pasta
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL //raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
into a terminal window, and follow the instructions
- after it has completed it will ask you to run brew doctor
- run brew install minicom
- 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.
