[U-Boot] is minicom still discouraged as the serial comms program?

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Robert,

In message <alpine.LFD.2.20.1607160651190.4670 at localhost.localdomain> you wrote:
> 
>   i know that minicom has been discouraged for quite some time WRT
> u-boot, is that still the case?

The recommendation to avoid minicom even predates U-Boot; it comes
from the time when it was still called PPCBoot, way back then...

I can't tell if it has gotten any better now; after getting burned
often enough I never tried it again.  There is only a certain amount
of pain I can stand ;-)

> and what was the flaw with minicom, anyway?

In sort, it does not work reliably.  Especially when it comes to using
the console for serial downloads.  IIRC it was basically impossible to
get S-record download working reliably (only "cu" would work like a
charm in all configurations), and similar issues were with kermit
binary protocol (and I cannot see any reason for not using kermit in
all use cases; IMHO is't still the most reliable and flexible tool).
Plus there were a ton of other nuissances - copy & paste of longer
text lines would have surprising effects; funny line wrap modes would
confuse the user etc. etc.

> and is there any problem with picocom, which seems to work for
> me just fine.

Never tried that.

I haven't been using S-record download for more than a decade, but if
I had, I would probably use "cu" before trying anything else.  For all
other purposes I use kermit.

[Kermit has the additional benefit that it can create network
connections using rlogin etc., so you can attach to terminal servers
in the same way as to regular serial ports, which gives a single tool
and a common interface to all kinds of connections.  That's _nice_.]

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

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