Really clear screen when using minicom

Niko O

4/20/24, 6:14 AM

I'm using minicom -w -D /dev/ttyUSB0 on Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS to communicate through a USB to serial converter with an embedded Linux. I want to clear the screen in the same manner as reset does when using ssh or when just plain typing in a new terminal. That is: when I scroll up after clearing, I don't want old output to show up again (which is what clear would do). While in minicom, the behavior of reset is the same as clear, which is not what I want.

How do I clear the screen "properly" while in minicom?
Bonus points if it works while a command is running.

These I have tried:

Exiting minicom with Ctrl+A, Z, X, then reset, then entering minicom again: Works, but it's annoying to have to do this.
Ctrl+A, Z, C (labeled as "Clear Screen"): Has the same behavior as clear
Ctrl+L: Has the same behavior as clear
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C: Doesn't work while inside minicom
tput reset: tput does not exist on the target system.
clear && printf '\e[3J': Has the same behavior as clear
clear && clear: Has the same behavior as clear
stty sane: Has no visible effect at all
printf "\033c": Positions the caret at the top left, but doesn't clear the screen, also same behavior as clear
setterm -reset: setterm does not exist on the target system.
Ctrl+Shift+K: Has no visible effect at all

180

0 + 3

minicom

20.04

guiverc

4/20/24, 6:20 AM

I'd suggest applying security fixes & other upgrades to your system asap if it's used online; a [correctly upgraded 20.04 system will report much later](https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2023/03/23/ubuntu-20-04-6-lts-released/) but your provided details imply you've not applied security fixes since before late [February 2022}(https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2022/02/25/ubuntu-20-04-4-lts-released/) as release dates in my links apply to ISOs for new installs, but installed systems upgraded before those dates. Are you using Ubuntu 20.04? as the detail you applied does match Ubuntu based but non-Ubuntu systems

Niko O

4/20/24, 8:06 AM

@guiverc Does that fix my problem?

guiverc

4/20/24, 8:13 AM

How would I know; all I know from your details is you're either not using a Ubuntu system (*but a Ubuntu-based system built on an outdated Ubuntu product*) or have a non-Ubuntu system that hasn't been updated & is behind on loads of fixes & thus can act very different to a patched & secure Ubuntu system. I can't know what you've left *unpatched*, except leaving fixes un-applied can cause the version number to show as *outdated* as you mentioned. I'll suggest keeping your system off-line though.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Really clear screen when using minicom

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.