tio is a simple serial device tool which features a straightforward command-line and configuration file interface to easily connect to serial TTY devices for basic I/O operations.
To make a simpler serial device tool for talking with serial TTY devices with less focus on classic terminal/modem features and more focus on the needs of embedded developers and hackers.
tio was originally created to replace screen for connecting to serial devices when used in combination with tmux.
- Easily connect to serial TTY devices
- Automatic connect and reconnect
- Sensible defaults (115200 8n1)
- Support for non-standard baud rates
- Support for mark and space parity
- X-modem (1K) and Y-modem file upload
- Support for RS-485 mode
- List available serial devices by ID
- Show RX/TX statistics
- Toggle serial lines
- Pulse serial lines with configurable pulse duration
- Local echo support
- Remapping of characters (nl, cr-nl, bs, lowercase to uppercase, etc.)
- Line timestamps
- Support for delayed output per character
- Support for delayed output per line
- Hexadecimal mode
- Log to file
- Autogeneration of log filename
- Configuration file support
- Activate sub-configurations by name or pattern
- Redirect I/O to UNIX socket or IPv4/v6 network socket for scripting or TTY sharing
- Pipe input and/or output
- Support for simple line request/response handling
- Bash completion on options, serial device names, and sub-configuration names
- Configurable text color
- Visual or audible alert on connect/disconnect
- Remapping of prefix key
- Man page documentation
- Binary size less than 90kB
- Plays nicely with tmux
For more usage details please see the man page documentation here.
The command-line interface is straightforward as reflected in the output from 'tio --help':
Usage: tio [<options>] <tty-device|sub-config>
Connect to TTY device directly or via sub-configuration.
Options:
-b, --baudrate <bps> Baud rate (default: 115200)
-d, --databits 5|6|7|8 Data bits (default: 8)
-f, --flow hard|soft|none Flow control (default: none)
-s, --stopbits 1|2 Stop bits (default: 1)
-p, --parity odd|even|none|mark|space Parity (default: none)
-o, --output-delay <ms> Output character delay (default: 0)
-O, --output-line-delay <ms> Output line delay (default: 0)
--line-pulse-duration <duration> Set line pulse duration
-n, --no-autoconnect Disable automatic connect
-e, --local-echo Enable local echo
-t, --timestamp Enable line timestamp
--timestamp-format <format> Set timestamp format (default: 24hour)
-L, --list-devices List available serial devices
-l, --log Enable log to file
--log-file <filename> Set log filename
--log-append Append to log file
--log-strip Strip control characters and escape sequences
-m, --map <flags> Map characters
-c, --color 0..255|bold|none|list Colorize tio text (default: bold)
-S, --socket <socket> Redirect I/O to socket
-x, --hexadecimal Enable hexadecimal mode
-r, --response-wait Wait for line response then quit
--response-timeout <ms> Response timeout (default: 100)
--rs-485 Enable RS-485 mode
--rs-485-config <config> Set RS-485 configuration
--alert bell|blink|none Alert on connect/disconnect (default: none)
-v, --version Display version
-h, --help Display help
Options and sub-configurations may be set via configuration file.
See the man page for more details.
By default tio automatically connects to the provided TTY device if present.
If the device is not present, it will wait for it to appear and then connect.
If the connection is lost (eg. device is unplugged), it will wait for the
device to reappear and then reconnect. However, if the --no-autoconnect
option is provided, tio will exit if the device is not present or an
established connection is lost.
tio features full bash autocompletion.
Typical use is without options:
$ tio /dev/ttyUSB0
Which corresponds to the commonly used default options:
$ tio -b 115200 -d 8 -f none -s 1 -p none /dev/ttyUSB0
It is recommended to connect serial TTY devices by ID:
$ tio /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0
Using serial devices by ID ensures that tio automatically reconnects to the correct serial device if it is disconnected and then reconnected.
List available serial devices by ID:
$ tio --list-devices
Note: One can also use tio shell completion on /dev which will automatically list all available serial TTY devices.
Log to file with autogenerated filename:
$ tio --log /dev/ttyUSB0
Enable ISO8601 timestamps per line:
$ tio --timestamp --timestamp-format iso8601 /dev/ttyUSB0
Redirect I/O to IPv4 network socket on port 4242:
$ tio --socket inet:4242 /dev/ttyUSB0
Inject data to the serial device:
$ cat data.bin | tio /dev/ttyUSB0
Send command to serial device and wait for line response:
$ echo "*IDN?" | tio /dev/ttyACM0 --response-wait
KORAD KD3305P V4.2 SN:32475045
Various in session key commands are supported. When tio is started, press ctrl-t ? to list the available key commands.
[20:19:12.040] Key commands:
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t ? List available key commands
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t b Send break
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t c Show configuration
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t e Toggle local echo mode
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t f Toggle log to file
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t g Toggle serial port line
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t h Toggle hexadecimal mode
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t l Clear screen
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t L Show line states
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t p Pulse serial port line
[20:19:12.040] ctrl-t q Quit
[20:19:12.041] ctrl-t s Show statistics
[20:19:12.041] ctrl-t t Toggle line timestamp mode
[20:19:12.041] ctrl-t U Toggle conversion to uppercase
[20:19:12.041] ctrl-t v Show version
[20:19:12.041] ctrl-t x Send file using the XMODEM protocol
[20:19:12.041] ctrl-t y Send file using the YMODEM protocol
[20:19:12.041] ctrl-t ctrl-t Send ctrl-t character
If needed, the prefix key (ctrl-t) can be remapped via configuration file.
Options can be set via the configuration file first found in any of the following locations in the order listed:
- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tio/config
- $HOME/.config/tio/config
- $HOME/.tioconfig
The configuration file supports sub-configurations using named sections which can be activated via the command-line by name or pattern. A sub-configuration specifies which TTY device to connect to and other options.
Example configuration file:
# Defaults
baudrate = 9600
databits = 8
parity = none
stopbits = 1
color = 10
[rpi3]
device = /dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_TTL232R-3V3_FTGQVXBL-if00-port0
baudrate = 115200
no-autoconnect = enable
log = enable
log-file = rpi3.log
line-pulse-duration = DTR=200,RTS=150
color = 12
[usb devices]
pattern = usb([0-9]*)
device = /dev/ttyUSB%s
color = 13
To use a specific sub-configuration by name simply start tio like so:
$ tio rpi3
Or by pattern match:
$ tio usb12
Another more elaborate configuration file example is available here.
Packages for various GNU/Linux distributions are available. Please consult your package manager tool to find and install tio.
If you would like to see tio included in your favorite distribution, please reach out to its package maintainers team.
Install latest stable version:
$ snap install tio --classic
Note: Classic confinement is currently required due to limitations of the snapcraft framework. See Issue #187 for discussion.
If you have brew installed:
$ brew install tio
If you have MSYS2 installed:
$ pacman -S tio
The latest source releases can be found here.
Install steps:
$ meson setup build
$ meson compile -C build
$ meson install -C build
See meson_options.txt for tio specific build options.
Note: The meson install steps may differ depending on your specific system.
Getting permission access errors trying to open your serial device?
Add your user to the group which allows serial device access. For example, to add your user to the 'dialout' group do:
$ sudo usermod -a -G dialout <username>
tio is open source. If you want to help out with the project please feel free to join in.
All contributions (bug reports, code, doc, ideas, etc.) are welcome.
Please use the github issue tracker and pull request features.
Also, if you find this free open source software useful please feel free to consider making a donation of your choice:
Submit bug reports via GitHub: https://github.com/tio/tio/issues
Visit tio.github.io
tio is GPLv2+. See LICENSE file for more details.
Created by Martin Lund <[email protected]>
See the AUTHORS file for full list of contributors.