[CentOS] Minicom and Ncurses

Once upon a time, Nicolas Kovacs <info at microlinux.fr> said:
> I have to do some maintenance on a CentOS 7 proxy installed on a routerboard
> without a video card. The only way to access this machine directly is via
> Minicom and serial port.
> 
> I'm using NetworkManager TUI (nmtui) to configure network interfaces, but
> Ncurses rendering in Minicom works in the sense that chickens fly and horses
> swim. What you get is a forest of question marks with a few barely recognizable
> options lost in between.
> 
> Is there some magical trick to render Ncurses interfaces correctly in Minicom ?

I'd guess the TERM is not set correctly.  IIRC Minicom by default
emulates a traditional VT102 terminal, while the default Linux TERM
variable is usually "linux" (which is a superset of VT102).  Try setting
TERM=vt102 first.

Alternately, if you have screen installed, it can also be used for
serial access... run "screen /dev/ttyS0 9600" (change the device and
speed as needed).  Screen has its own superset of VT102, so you can set
TERM=screen, but it is also possibly close enough to the linux terminal
emulation to work directly (they're both ANSI supersets with similar
extensions).

-- 
Chris Adams <linux at cmadams.net>