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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	share-
       ware 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 configura-
       tions, and more.

COMMAND-LINE
       -s, --setup
	    Setup.  Root edits the  system-wide	 defaults  in  /etc/minirc.dfl
	    with  this	option.	 When it is used, minicom does not initialize,
	    but	puts you directly 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 different terminals all the	time,  of  which  some
	    don't  have	 a Meta	or ALT key, it's handy to set the default com-
	    mand 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 sup-
	    port it and	that have the relevant information in their termcap or
	    terminfo database entry.

       -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 with-
	    out	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, mini-
	    com	 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 create 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. Terminals (such as the	Linux console)	support	 color
	    with  the standard ANSI escape sequences. In case there is no such
	    support, color usage can be	disabled with '-c off'.	This, and  the
	    '-m'  option, are good candidates to put into the MINICOM environ-
	    ment 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 spec-
	    ify	 an  index number, but also a substring	of the name of the en-
	    try. If you	specify	a name that has	multiple entries in the	direc-
	    tory, they are all tagged for dialing. You can also	specify	multi-
	    ple	names or index numbers by separating them with commas. The di-
	    aling 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  configu-
	    ration file.

       -D, --device
	    Specify  the  device, overriding the value given in	the configura-
	    tion 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  con-
	    vert  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.   'Continu-
	    ous'  means	 no  locate/attribute  control	sequences are inserted
	    without real change	of locate/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 different	ports, different users
	    etc. Most sensible is to use device	names, such  as	 tty1,	tty64,
	    sio2  etc. If a user creates their own configuration file, it will
	    show up in their home directory as ".minirc.dfl" or	 ".minirc.con-
	    figuration".

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	function 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  es-
       cape  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 se-
       quences are interpreted.	 If there is a line left at the	bottom,	a sta-
       tus 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 sys-
	    tem.  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 be-
	    fore 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 occurrence 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  be-
	    tween  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.	Avail-
	    able 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, par-
	    ity	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 di-
	    rectory enabled, you'll get	a selection window  for	 choosing  the
	    directory  for  downloading.  Otherwise the	download directory de-
	    fined in the Filenames and paths menu will be used.
       S    Send files.	Choose the protocol like you do	with the receive  com-
	    mand.  If you don't	have the filename selection window enabled (in
	    the	File transfer protocols	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	direc-
	    tory 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 milliseconds) 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 arrow keys or the h/l keys and pressing Enter.  You
       can add,	delete or edit entries and move	them up	and down in the	direc-
       tory  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 di-
       aling. 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	(Back-
       ward) and Control-F (Forward). You can use the space bar	to tag a  num-
       ber 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  connec-
		 tion 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  con-
	      nected 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  in-
	      terpreter.
	 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 filename of the dial  out-device,	 '%f'  is  ex-
	      panded  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 with-
		   out 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 de-
	 fines if the program needs an argument, e.g. a	file to	 be  transmit-
	 ted.  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  ig-
	 nored	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 selection	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 di-
	 rectory 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 de-
	      vices  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 file-
	      name of the socket.  Minicom 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 establishes, mini-
	      com 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 sys-
	      tems 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 pre-
	 fixing	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  it-
	 self:
	 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 sec-
	      onds 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	commu-
	      nicate  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 di-
	      rectory 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 in-
	      stead of BS. With	this option you	 can  enable  that  stupidity.
	      (Eh, it's	even on	by default...)
	 C - Status line is
	      Enabled  or disabled. Some slow terminals	(for example, X-termi-
	      nals)  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 com-
	      plete.
	 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 background	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 back-
	      ground 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 define F1 through F12 to	send up	to 256 charac-
	      ters [this is set	at compile time]. The filename you specify  is
	      verified	as  soon  as you hit ENTER. If you do not have permis-
	      sions to create the specified file, an error message will	so in-
	      dicate 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 con-
		 trol 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 lo-
		 gin after ftp'ing or telnet'ing somewhere.  You can also  in-
		 clude	your  current username and password from the phone di-
		 rectory in the	macros with '\u' and  '\p',  respectively.  If
		 you  need the backslash character in the macro, write it dou-
		 bled 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  can-
		 cels 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 included in the ASCII	character set,
		 and in	the old	times they may have replaced some less	impor-
		 tant  characters  in ASCII and	now they are often represented
		 with character	codes above 127. AND there are various differ-
		 ent ways to represent them. This is where you may  edit  con-
		 version 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.	Prede-
		   fined 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 re-
		   place the characters	{|}[]\ with the	diacritical characters
		   used	in Finnish and Swedish.

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

	      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 (usu-
		   ally) 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, depend-
	 ing 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 op-
	 tion 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 applica-
       tions 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  set-
       ting the	environment 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-se-
       quences.	 To  see  how  dirty this was done, look into wkeys.c.	But it
       works like a charm!

FILES
       Minicom keeps  it's  configuration  files  in  one  directory,  usually
       /var/lib/minicom,  /usr/local/etc or /etc. To find out what default di-
       rectory minicom has compiled in,	issue the command minicom -h.	You'll
       probably	also find the demo files for runscript(1), and the examples of
       character  conversion  tables  either there or in the subdirectories of
       /usr/doc/minicom*. The conversion tables	are named something like  mc.*
       in  that	 directory, 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

SEE ALSO
       runscript(1)

BUGS
       Please report any bugs to minicom-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org.	 Thank
       you!

AUTHORS
       The  original   author	of   minicom   is   Miquel   van   Smoorenburg
       (miquels@cistron.nl).  He wrote versions	up to 1.75.
       Jukka  Lahtinen (walker@netsonic.fi, jukkal@despammed.com) has been re-
       sponsible for new versions since	1.78, helped by	some other people, in-
       cluding:
       filipg@paranoia.com wrote the History buffer searching to 1.79.
       Arnaldo Carvalho	de Melo	(acme@conectiva.com.br)	did the	international-
       ization and the Brazilian Portuguese translations.
       Jim Seymour (jseymour@jimsun.LinxNet.com) wrote the multiple modem sup-
       port and	the filename selection window used since 1.80.
       Tomohiro	Kubota (kubota@debian.or.jp) wrote the	Japanese  translations
       and the citation	facility, and did some fixes.
       Gael Queri (gqueri@mail.dotcom.fr) wrote	the French translations.
       Arkadiusz Miskiewicz (misiek@pld.org.pl)	wrote the Polish translations.
       Kim Soyoung (nexti@chollian.net)	wrote the Korean translations.
       Jork  Loeser (jork.loeser@inf.tu-dresden.de) provided the socket	exten-
       sion.

       Most of this man	page is	copied,	with corrections,  from	 the  original
       minicom	README,	 but some pieces and the corrections are by Michael K.
       Johnson.

       Jukka Lahtinen (walker@netsonic.fi) has added some information  of  the
       changes made after version 1.75.

       Adam  Lackorzynski  (adam@lackorzynski.de) is the current maintainer of
       minicom.

User's Manual			   Dec 2013			    MINICOM(1)

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