Description: to connect your computer to a Cisco device via its console port, you usually need a RJ45 rolled cable. You can use a RJ-45 to DB-9 Female if your computer has a serial port.
To communicate through the serial port with the Cisco device, you need Minicom, a terminal emulator software.
Installation:
- Debian/Ubuntu based distros:
sudo apt-get install minicom - Red Hat/Fedora based distros:
sudo yum install minicom
Steps:
- Check whether your serial port is detected by the kernel:
dmesg | grep ttyS
[ 0.485378] serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
[ 0.485739] 00:07: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
- Run Minicom:
sudo minicom - Press Ctrl+A Z to enter Minicom’s menu.
- Press O to enter configuration submenu.
- Enter the serial port setup.
- Set the serial device (/dev/ttyS0 in this example).
- Press E to set the “Bps/Par/Bits”.
- Press C (9600 bps) and Q (8-N-1).
- Set software flow control to NO.
- Save the configuration as “cisco” (for example)
- Press Q to quit Minicom
- Run Minicom with the new configuration:
sudo minicom cisco
Tip: if you need to send a “Break” through Minicom (on a password recovery operation, for example), use Ctrl+A F .
Jaime Frutos Morales's blog 
you can also use screen:
$ screen /dev/ttyS0 9600
Comment by natxo — 30/12/2010 @ 10:58
I didn’t know screen could do that. Thanks for the comment.
Comment by acidborg — 30/12/2010 @ 11:34
Wow! This can be 1 of the top blogs I’ve actually arrive throughout on this subject. Merely Magnificent
Comment by ptz ip camera — 12/01/2011 @ 09:28