nixCraft Linux Sys Admin Blog

Linux / UNIX minicom Serial Communication Program

Posted: 05 Feb 2008 01:32 AM CST

Linux comes with many serial text and gui based serial communication programs. My favorite is minicom - friendly menu driven serial communication program.

If you are addicted to DOS / Windows TELIX (a telecommunications program originally written for DOS and was released in 1986), minicom is for you under Linux / UNIX.

minicom Common features / usage

=> Setting up a remote serial console
=> Access a computer / server if the LAN is down
=> Connect to embedded Linux / BSD device via null modem cable
=> Connect to Cisco routers for configuration
=> Connect to dump device i.e. device w/o keyboard and mouse
=> Dialing directory with auto-redial
=> Support for UUCP-style lock files on serial devices
=> Separate script language interpreter
=> Capture to file
=> Multiple users with individual configurations

Let us see how to configure minicom for my Soekris net4801 Single Board Computer / embedded Linux device.
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Download of the day: PostgreSQL 8.3 Database Server

Posted: 05 Feb 2008 12:16 AM CST

PostgreSQL 8.3 has been released and available for download. PostgreSQL considered as the world’s most advanced open source database. From the announcement page:

This release includes a record number of new and improved features which will greatly enhance PostgreSQL for application designers, database administrators, and users, with more than 280 patches by dozens of PostgreSQL contributors from 18 countries. Version 8.3 provides greater consistency of performance than previous versions, ensuring that every user can depend on the same high performance demonstrated in recent benchmarks for every transaction, whether in peak hours or not, seven days a week, 52 weeks per year. Major performance enhancements include:

-> Heap Only Tuples (HOT), which eliminate up to 3/4 of the maintenance overhead of frequently updated tables
-> Spread checkpoints and background writer autotuning, which reduce the impact of checkpoints on response times
-> Asynchronous commit option for much faster response times on some transactions

These changes also significantly accelerate transaction processing throughput, between 5% and 30%, depending on the workload.