Connecting to a serial port/COM1 in Windows 7

Question

I have an external device (running a small Linux-based OS) that I need to log in to via the Windows 7 command line. The device is connected to COM1 with a USB-to-serial cable. How do I do this without HyperTerminal (which doesn't come w/7)? I know how I'd connect to a remote IP address or similar location via ssh, but I'm not very familiar with Windows & am having a hard time finding info on how to replicate this particular function of HyperTerminal ...

Edit:
All three suggestions (PuTTy, KiTTy, Tera Term) just returned gibberish, suggesting to me that maybe there's something wrong with the device, my cable, or I just need to read up on how serial ports work some more, I don't know (turned out to be a weird connection speed issue). But it's good to know there are alternatives to Hyperterminal (I really wanted Tera Term to work, too - the vintage 1999 brilliant turquoise website and Y2K disclaimer were fun).

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 23 '11 at 21:48

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Current versions of PuTTY can connect using a serial port.

answered Mar 23 '11 at 21:48

DerfK

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 23 '11 at 22:16

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The PuTTY fork KiTTy supports serial comms too and has some nice features that PuTTY lacks.

answered Mar 23 '11 at 22:16

user9517

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Thanks, I didn't know about this fork - looks like it'll work for an unrelated issue I had, too! – Beekguk Mar 24 '11 at 18:02

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 23 '11 at 22:04

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Tera Term is a good alternative to HyperTerminal - it's old but works fine on W7 - in fact, I was using it this afternoon on W7 (64-bit) to test an old modem on COM1.

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html

answered Mar 23 '11 at 22:04

Linker3000

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That website is absolutely incredible. – Beekguk Mar 24 '11 at 18:02

Connecting to a serial port/COM1 in Windows 7

3 Answers3