Electronic – Best serial monitor

lcdserial

I just recently started using a Sparkfun serial LCD. I am able to control it through an arduino, but I want to be able to control it through a terminal on my computer. To be able to move the cursor or clear the screen, you need to be able to send hexadecimal code to it, for example, 0xFE. I am unable to find an open source terminal program for Windows that will give me this functionality. An example of a program that works very well is Eltima serial port monitor, although it is rather expensive for just a student. I have a USB to serial FTDI breakout board to get the signal to the LCD. Any suggestions as for programs, under Windows 7, will be greatly appreciated.

Best Answer

I just write short Python programs using pySerial:

>>> import serial
>>> ser = serial.Serial(0)  # open first serial port
>>> print ser.portstr       # check which port was really used
>>> ser.write("hello")      # write a string
>>> ser.write(0xa4)         # write a byte
>>> ser.close()             # close port
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