Terminal Software
The primary interface for the Sorbus Computer is the USB UART. So for communication so called "Terminal Software" is required that manages the communication via a serial device.
Here are the results on trying out what was encountered so far.
Linux
Main development is done on Linux. There are the terminal programs tested and what's needed to know about them.
microcom
Starting from command line:
microcom -p /dev/ttyACM0 -s 115200
Typically the setting of the baud rate is not required here. Quit can be done
by pressing Ctrl+\ and entering "quit" at the prompt. However pressing
Ctrl+\ twice gets the same job done and is faster.
picocom
Starting from command line:
picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyACM0
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+X closes connection.
screen
Starting from command line:
screen /dev/ttyACM0
Works well, Ctrl+A, K to quit.
minicom
Sadly minicom does not work with a couple of things the terminal output requires.
- escape sequence for setting the cursor does not work for large numbers, which is required for screen size detection (a workaround for this is possible)
- UTF-8 output is broken in a way that output is counted in glyphs, not bytes, which breaks the output. This has been reported in 2017 and is not fixed as tested with the development version at the end of 2025.
Just don't use it, thanks.
Windows
PuTTY
Just works. Recommended. Click on "Connection Type: Serial" and enter the correct port. You can use the device manager to figure that out. Speed is 115200.
MobaXterm
It has been tested and works well with both the Home and the Professional Edition. Does a lot more. Click on "Session", then select "Serial", the correct "Serial port" from drop down list (huge advantage compared to PuTTY), and set "Speed (bps)" to 115200. Portable version also available. Favorite choice for Windows.
TeraTerm Pro
This is from a time where UTF-8 was not a topic at all. Just fughettaboutit.
MacOS
Most of the software for Linux should also work on MAC the same way, when installed. The filename of the serial device will be significantly different.
cu
This is a choice by an experienced MAC user.