Re: [Sheflug] linux on an aging laptop (take2)

[José Luis Gómez Dans <nospam [at] sheffield.ac.uk>]

On Thu, Oct 12, 2000 at 09:34:29PM +0100, Ross wrote:
> fetchmail/sendmail/httpd/ftpd/samba..........
> in fact it's pretty impresive for a floppy distro

	Hmmm, so they did implement my idea of bundling samba with it. I
should get all the credit!!!
	
> how do i access the serial port?

	Usually, /dev/ttySX (X=0,1,2,3...).

> there is no authentication required just a straight forward comms link.
> i have used minicom to connect to the system before without problems.. just
> fire up minicom and dial the number.... minicom carries out the required vt100
> emulation for the interface.
> so i want to do the same with the direct cable connect?
> trouble is.... the minicom provided with MUlinux only seems to allow
> connection through the modem! is it possible through the terminal to establish
> a serial link?

	OK, in my days there used to be a tool called cu (stands for
"call unix". It basically allowed you to call another unix box using a
modem, and did all this in the console. I don't know whether this is
available for linux, but I don't see why you can't just use setserial to
configure the serial port, and then just do a little script to write
data to the modem (see the Serial-HOWTO or the
Serial-Programming-HOWTO). You can set the modem up and use it as a
file descriptor.

	I would have thought that cu is exactly what you want, as IIRC,
you can actually do "raw" serial port access. This allows you to:
cu -l /dev/ttyS1
THIS IS BIG NASTY CORPORATION MANAGEMENT SERVER
..

	I don't know what package carries it, possibly UUCP-related, as
it was widely used in UUCP transfers. I think this is optimal, as it is
_very_small, and already uses your terminal, so you woldn't experience a
loss of speed or need more disk space.

	Hope this helps,
	José
-- 
José L Gómez Dans			PhD student
					Radar & Communications Group
					Department of Electronic Engineering
					University of Sheffield UK
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