Am trying out Knoppix on my Toshiba Tecra 550CDT. I would like to use it a console for my Cisco CCNP study lab, which I've done under Windows running TinyTERM. Problem is that all the so-called "terminal emulators" I've found for Linux are actually telnet clients - going out my PCMCIA Ethernet card; and thus into the routers' Ethernet ports.

I need to get into the CONSOLE port; which the PC is connected to out its DB9 port (which Windows calls "COM1") via rollover (DB9-RJ45) console cable.

I can't seem to find a simple, non-Telnet-happy dumb terminal emulator for Knoppix that can make use of the DB9 port. Where do I look?

Look into minicom. It will do what you want.

Oh good, I get to suggest Serial Terminal Linux again.
It is a Linux floppy that boots into a working serial connection with minicom.

P.S. Terminal emulator is refering to an application that somewhat mimics the feel of using a text/serial/dumb terminal. It does not refer to a program that connects to a serial device.

Hi,

I've been using screen for years (IRC, saving sessions, ...) and just recently bumped into the fact that it's also a good serial console emulation program.

Try for example:
screen /dev/ttyS0 19200 vt100



Enjoy,
Bram

This command is just what I was looking for. Thanks a bunch!!!

I have an old laptop I want to set up as a dedicated dumb terminal (its much smaller & lighter than the "real" dumb terms we use at work). Is there any way to set up "Serial Terminal Linux" to run directly from a harddisk? I have been aware of this min-distro for a while but havnt yet found a way to "install" it.

Why install to hard disk? No floppy? It may work to burn a CD with the Serial Terminal Linux floppy as the boot image if the laptop has a bootable CD.
It might work to copy the floppy contents to a hard drive partition, edit config files such as fstab, maybe inittab, and such, then install a bootloader. But that is so much trouble it may just be easier to do a minimum text install of Slackware or other and configure minicom yourself.

This is an old laptop (> 15 years, and it still works fine). There is no integral floppy (its a psuedo-pcmcia so best left unattached unless required) and certainly no network or cdrom, hence me wanting to install to harddisk.

Its only 9" by 7", light, and perfectly good enough as a dumb term, but not much use for anything else.

I might go read the Pocked Linux guide if I can find the time to build the disks myself.

Then it seems like you need to learn to set up your serial connection and configure minicom in whatever distribution you choose or give a try at copying Serial Terminal Linux and messing with some startup files.
I think it is a good idea. (Laptop as terminal.)
I enjoy messing with serial connections. I set up a Debian PC at work that connects with 8 real VT terminals. If I were to try to run my laptop throught the main terminal system I would need to get serial VIA USB working first and then learn to connect through the DEC serial interface.
Do you know that a working serial connection and minicom is really all that will be required to connect? No weird intrerfaces?