[U-Boot] is minicom still discouraged as the serial comms program?
i know that minicom has been discouraged for quite some time WRT u-boot, is that still the case? and what was the flaw with minicom, anyway? and is there any problem with picocom, which seems to work for me just fine.
rday
On Sat, Jul 16, 2016 at 06:52:38AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
i know that minicom has been discouraged for quite some time WRT u-boot, is that still the case? and what was the flaw with minicom, anyway? and is there any problem with picocom, which seems to work for me just fine.
As far as I know there's no real problem with minicom, just that it's a pain to use in general, but that's just my opinion.
Tom Rini trini@konsulko.com writes:
On Sat, Jul 16, 2016 at 06:52:38AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
i know that minicom has been discouraged for quite some time WRT u-boot, is that still the case? and what was the flaw with minicom, anyway? and is there any problem with picocom, which seems to work for me just fine.
As far as I know there's no real problem with minicom, just that it's a pain to use in general, but that's just my opinion.
It's an opinion shared by many. Minicom appears to be mainly intended for use with an actual modem, and when there isn't one involved, those features tend to get in the way.
Dear Måns,
In message yw1x8tx1fyhx.fsf@unicorn.mansr.com you wrote:
It's an opinion shared by many. Minicom appears to be mainly intended for use with an actual modem, and when there isn't one involved, those features tend to get in the way.
Right - now you mention it I remember that minicom at least in some default installations issues a set of AT modem commands when connecting to a serial line, which have caused funny effects with U-Boot here and there...
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk
On Mon, 18 Jul 2016, Wolfgang Denk wrote:
Dear Måns,
In message yw1x8tx1fyhx.fsf@unicorn.mansr.com you wrote:
It's an opinion shared by many. Minicom appears to be mainly intended for use with an actual modem, and when there isn't one involved, those features tend to get in the way.
Right - now you mention it I remember that minicom at least in some default installations issues a set of AT modem commands when connecting to a serial line, which have caused funny effects with U-Boot here and there...
ah, that makes sense. so far, i've used picocom almost exclusively and never had a problem. i am unaware of picocom issuing any AT commands.
rday
Dear Robert,
In message alpine.LFD.2.20.1607160651190.4670@localhost.localdomain you wrote:
i know that minicom has been discouraged for quite some time WRT u-boot, is that still the case?
The recommendation to avoid minicom even predates U-Boot; it comes from the time when it was still called PPCBoot, way back then...
I can't tell if it has gotten any better now; after getting burned often enough I never tried it again. There is only a certain amount of pain I can stand ;-)
and what was the flaw with minicom, anyway?
In sort, it does not work reliably. Especially when it comes to using the console for serial downloads. IIRC it was basically impossible to get S-record download working reliably (only "cu" would work like a charm in all configurations), and similar issues were with kermit binary protocol (and I cannot see any reason for not using kermit in all use cases; IMHO is't still the most reliable and flexible tool). Plus there were a ton of other nuissances - copy & paste of longer text lines would have surprising effects; funny line wrap modes would confuse the user etc. etc.
and is there any problem with picocom, which seems to work for me just fine.
Never tried that.
I haven't been using S-record download for more than a decade, but if I had, I would probably use "cu" before trying anything else. For all other purposes I use kermit.
[Kermit has the additional benefit that it can create network connections using rlogin etc., so you can attach to terminal servers in the same way as to regular serial ports, which gives a single tool and a common interface to all kinds of connections. That's _nice_.]
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk
participants (4)
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Måns Rullgård -
Robert P. J. Day -
Tom Rini -
Wolfgang Denk