imterm

Terminal for UART consoles targeted for embedded systems development.

• ANSI escape sequence support (colors, cursor position, etc.). ESP32 console features supported.
• Infinite scroll back.
• Toggle flow control lines (DTR, RTS) and view status of CTS, DSR, and DCD. ESP32s can be reset via RTS toggle.
• Lines annotated by number and time. MCUs often don't have a clock to output a timestamp.
• Logging to file based on start timestamp and port number.
• Auto reconnect: if a serial port goes away, attempt to reconnect automatically (wait for re-enumeration of serial port).

Although there are many programs that can do some mixture of the features I'd like, I have never found one I was satisfied with, so I made my own.

Future enhancements will contains features that help me develop and debug embedded systems, such as hexadecimal view. A search function is sorely needed.

Serial port is the only interface currently supported. It is a major work in progress, a lot of cleanup and refactoring is currently needed. That being said, it currently accomplishes my initial goal of being compatible with ESP32 console features (line editing, coloring, history, etc.).

Written in C++20 with multi-platform, hardware accelerated GUI based on Dear ImGui. I have tested it in Windows and Linux. Mac should not be difficult to get working, but overall this codebase is early beta quality.

Uses conan for all build dependencies, and CMake.

The built binary does not have any dependencies.

Submodules are still a part of the repo for glfw and imgui projects, but the setup of CMakeLists.txt does not currently use them. You do not need to initialize the submodules.

The terminal view is originally based on ImGuiColorTextEdit.

The below image shows imterm connecting to an ESP32 C6 console project. Tab completion is shown.

Building

If you are new to conan, you will need to get up to speed with it first.

Install Conan

Install Conan: https://docs.conan.io/2/installation.html

$ pip install conan

Configure Profile(s)

Generate a profile, where a C++ 20 compiler must be found:

conan profile detect --force

Run conan profile path default to find the location of the default profile. You can save additional profiles in the same location.

Setup Dependent Packages & Build Presets

conan install . --output-folder=out/conan --build=missing

Add e.g. --profile=msvc20-debug if you want to specify a non-default profile.

This will install the requirements specified by conanfile.py and generate CMakeUserPresets.json which will point to /out/conan/build/Debug/generators/CMakePresets.json. This is a preset CMake configuration specific to your conan profile.

You can run this command whenever you wish, e.g., after cleaning or deleting the output / build directory.

Permissions error

If you get something like:

can't install because tools.system.package_manager:mode is 'check'.

You will need to add to ~/.conan2/global.conf so Conan can install packages on your system.

tools.system.package_manager:mode = install
tools.system.package_manager:sudo = True

CMake Configure & Build

The result of the conan install ... command will tell you how you can call CMake.

conanfile.py: Preset 'conan-debug' added to CMakePresets.json. Invoke it manually using 'cmake --preset conan-debug' if using CMake>=3.23
conanfile.py: If your CMake version is not compatible with CMakePresets (<3.23) call cmake like: 'cmake <path> -G Ninja -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=out\conan\build\Debug\generators\conan_toolchain.cmake -DCMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0091=NEW -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug'

Meaning if you have CMake 3.23 or later you can just run:

cmake --preset conan-debug
cmake --build out/conan/build

Otherwise, e.g.:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=/home/steve/code/personal/imterm/out/conan/build/Release/generators/conan_toolchain.cmake -DCMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0091=NEW DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build .
./imterm

Visual Studio

You can create msvc20-release and msvc20-debug profiles, e.g.:

[settings]
arch=x86_64
build_type=Release
compiler=msvc
compiler.cppstd=20
compiler.runtime=dynamic
compiler.version=193
os=Windows

[settings]
arch=x86_64
build_type=Debug
compiler=msvc
compiler.cppstd=20
compiler.runtime=dynamic
compiler.version=193
os=Windows

Using Conan, ninja With MS VC++

If you want to force conan to use ninja instead of MS Build, place *:tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=Ninja on a new line in global.conf (you can find the location of global.conf using conan config path).

After running conan install . --output-folder=out/conan --build=missing --profile=msvc20-debug do not run cmake --preset conan-debug as this can cause conan to generate a toolchain based on mingw or similar.

Instead:

1. Use Open Folder in Visual Studio,
2. Select Startup Item -> imterm
3. Project -> Configure imterm
4. Build / run

Visual Studio will configure for msvc with ninja.