Anybody know how to take ASCII data in from a USB port using
 the Linux command line? I have a USB GPS receiver probably putting out
 NEMA 0183 ASCII data every one second.

 -------------------------------

 When I do "dmesg" I get this among other things.

 [337219.194564] usb 2-5: USB disconnect, address 10
 [353725.772224] usb 8-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and
 address 2
 [353725.976107] usb 8-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
 [353726.141383] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
 [353726.141398] USB Serial support registered for generic
 [353726.141423] usbcore: registered new interface driver
usbserial_generic
 [353726.141425] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
 [353726.155861] USB Serial support registered for DeLorme Earthmate USB
 [353726.155874] USB Serial support registered for HID-COM RS232 Adapter
 [353726.155886] USB Serial support registered for Nokia CA-42 V2 Adapter
 [353726.155906] cypress 8-1:1.0: DeLorme Earthmate USB converter
detected

 [353726.157262] usb 8-1: DeLorme Earthmate USB converter now attached to
 ttyUSB0

 [353726.157280] usbcore: registered new interface driver cypress
 [353726.157282] cypress_m8: v1.09:Cypress USB to Serial Driver
 [353726.177064] usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
 [353726.177081] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
 [353726.177083] usbhid: v2.6:USB HID core driver


 What do I do now?

 Paul Lamar

 Paul,

 Try installing cutecom with your package manager. If you use yum:

 yum install cutecom

 CuteCom is a graphical serial terminal, like minicom or Hyperterminal on
 Windows. It is aimed mainly at hardware developers or other people who
 need a terminal to talk to their devices.

 Mark LaPierre


 root@paul-desktop:~# yum install cutecom
 The program 'yum' is currently not installed. You can install it by
typing:
 apt-get install yum
 bash: yum: command not found
 root@paul-desktop:~#


 Then I did.

 root@paul-desktop:~# yum install cutecom
 The program 'yum' is currently not installed. You can install it by
typing:
 apt-get install yum
 bash: yum: command not found
 root@paul-desktop:~#
 root@paul-desktop:~#
 root@paul-desktop:~#
 root@paul-desktop:~#
 root@paul-desktop:~# apt-get install cutecom
 Reading package lists... Done
 Building dependency tree
 Reading state information... Done
 The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer
 required:
 vim-gui-common vim-runtime
 Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
 Suggested packages:
 lrzsz
 The following NEW packages will be installed:
 cutecom
 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
 Need to get 50.1kB of archives.
 After this operation, 184kB of additional disk space will be used.
 WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
 cutecom
 Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
 Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe cutecom 0.20.0-1
 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.171 80]
 Failed to fetch
 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/c/cutecom/cutecom_0.20.0-1_i386.deb

 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.171 80]
 E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with
 --fix-missing?
 root@paul-desktop:~#

 Then this happened.

 SNIP<<<<

 E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old
 ones used instead.
 root@paul-desktop:~#



 Paul Lamar


It appears that the package server was off line.  It failed to find the
cutecom package as well as all the other issues that I SNIPed out.

Try looking for a terminal program using your software installation
utility.  I use Fedora so my example is based on Fedora with the Gnome
desktop.  Ubuntu uses the same Gnome desktop so this might be good.

Go to: System|Administration|Add/Remove Software

In the search box provided type in "terminal" without the quotes.
Select the terminal you want to try and then install it from there.

It is possible that your repository files on your desktop are out or
date.  How old is your current Ubuntu installation?  Have you run an
upgrade from a previous version to the current version at some time in
the past?

 Mark LaPierre


I searched high and low for Unbuntu but maybe I need to switch back
to red hat.

My current Ubuntu is a couple of years old.

Paul Lamar

I just installed cutecom  In Linux Mint 11. This the current distro
among many that I have tried. It is much faster than Ubuntu 11.10 and
Fedora. Install the dvd version.  All the multimedia codecs are
included. It is nearly the state of the  art for Linux. Linux Mint 11 is
basically Ubuntu 11.xx. The desktop I like better.

chris smale