A serial terminal is software that allows communication with devices through a serial port, often used for debugging embedded systems and interacting with hardware like microcontrollers. It essentially acts as a bridge, displaying data sent to and received from the connected device and enabling users to send commands or data to the device
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 15 useful serial terminal tools for Linux. Our findings are captured in the ratings chart below in the classic LinuxLinks-style. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion.
Let’s explore the 16 serial terminals. Click the links in the table below to learn all about each client.
| Serial Terminal Tools | |
|---|---|
| Serial Studio | Cross-platform telemetry dashboard and real-time data visualization tool |
| SerialTest | Test tool for serial port, Bluetooth, TCP and UDP |
| GTKTerm | Simple, graphical serial port terminal emulator |
| COMTool | Cross platform serial debug tool |
| moserial | Clean, friendly GTK-based serial terminal for the GNOME desktop |
| minicom | Text-based modem control and terminal emulation program |
| WhippyTerm | Has a number of unique features such as bookmarks and built in hex dumps |
| PuTTY | SSH and telnet client |
| seriot | Serial monitor and serial plotter |
| QSerial | Cross-platform serial port utility |
| ttysterm | Minimalist terminal program |
| ssterm | Simple console-based serial port terminal |
| SerialTool | Serial-Port/TCP/UDP debugging tool |
| opencu | Minimalistic serial terminal emulator |
| HTerm | Uses wxWidgets, fmt, and spdlog |
| CuteCom | Graphical serial terminal |
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screen?
What about it?
Dumb response, it is a free Linux serial terminal program that supports multiple serial terminals and is able to display several of them at the same time.
OK, screen is a terminal multiplexer. It’s already included in our Terminal Multiplexers roundup. It’s a very different type of program.
Gary, the only one who is dumb is you.
Just wanted to suggest a newcomer to the list of serial programs for Linux. WhippyTerm. Tab based GUI, support for binary protocols, full feature terminal (supports ANSI colors, movement, line history, and all the things you would expect from a terminal program), under active development.
Thanks Paul, it looks a good candidate for inclusion.
Here’s an Open Source new style Serial Terminal called 8N1Term.
The ASCII keyboard makes life simple:
Thanks Chris, I’ll take a look at it.