HyperTerminal replacement in Ubuntu - Minicom

setup minicom (for serial port)

1. By default, minicom is not installed in Ubuntu, so you need to install it first.
   sudo apt-get install minicom
2. Find the name of your Serial Port
   dmesg | grep tty
   In the output look for something like "tty". The output in my case is like this:
$ dmesg | grep tty
[ 17.341823] serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
[ 17.342454] 00:0b: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
This means the device correspond to my serial port is ttyS0.
3. Configure minicom
   sudo minicom -s
   • Use the keyboard keys to select the menu item Serial port setup.
   • Enter A to change the Serial Device to /dev/ttyS0, and then enter E to change the line speed to 9600 8N1
   • Using arrow keys, select Save setup as dfl
4. Select Exit from Minicom.
5. Next time, from the terminal you only need to run sudo minicom in order to access your Cisco box. 

(http://strdoc.com/hyperterminal-replacement-ubuntu-minicom)
Link to grabserial:   http://elinux.org/Grabserial#Download_and_Installation