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ComChan (Communication Channel)

A Blazingly Fast Serial Monitor for Embedded Systems and Serial Communication

Features • Installation • Documentation • Examples • Contributing

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Table of Contents

• ComChan (Communication Channel)
  • Installation
    • From crates.io
    • From AUR
    • Using Homebrew
    • From source
  • Documentation
  • Contributing
  • Common Commands
    • Basic Serial Monitor
    • Verbose Mode
    • Log Mode
    • Serial Plotter
    • Automatically detect serial ports
    • Use a Configuration file
  • Features
    • Legends
• Examples
  • "Hello World" Program
  • User Input
  • Serial Plotter
  • Auto Serial Port Detector
  • Using the Configuration file
    • Serial Monitor (plot = false)
    • Serial Plotter (plot = true)
    • Serial Plotter Multiple sensor values
  • ComChan in Windows
• Feedback Form
• OSCG Guidelines
  • Contributor Guidelines
  • Mentor Guidelines
• Stargazers over time (Graph)

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Installation

Choose your preferred installation method:

From crates.io

[!NOTE] The easiest way to install ComChan is via cargo install

# Install from source
cargo install comchan

# Install the binary directly (faster)
cargo binstall comchan

Verify the installation:

comchan --version

From AUR

For Arch Linux users, ComChan is available in the AUR (thanks to orhun!):

# Using yay
yay -S comchan

# Using paru
paru -S comchan

Using Homebrew

ComChan can be installed via Homebrew taps:

brew install Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/taps/comchan

From source

Build from source for the latest development version:

# Clone from GitHub
git clone git@github.com:Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/ComChan.git

# Or clone from Codeberg
git clone ssh://git@codeberg.org/Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/ComChan.git

# Build and run
cd ComChan
cargo build --release
cargo run

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Documentation

📚 The full documentation for ComChan can be found at vaishnav.world/ComChan

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Common Commands

Basic Serial Monitor

Monitor serial output from your device:

comchan -p <port> -r <baud_rate>
# OR
comchan --port <port> --baud <baud_rate>

Example:

comchan -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -r 9600

Verbose Mode

Get detailed information about the serial connection:

comchan -p <port> -r <baud_rate> -v
# OR
comchan --port <port> --baud <baud_rate> --verbose

Log Mode

Save serial output to a log file:

comchan -p <port> -r <baud_rate> -l <log_file_name>
# OR
comchan --port <port> --baud <baud_rate> --log <log_file_name>

📄 View example log file

Serial Plotter

Visualize sensor data in real-time:

comchan --port <port> --baud <baud_rate> --plot
# OR
comchan -p <port> -r <baud_rate> --plot

Automatically Detect Serial Ports

Let ComChan find your serial device automatically:

# With default baud rate (9600)
comchan --auto

# With custom baud rate
comchan --auto --baud <baud_rate>
# OR
comchan --auto -r <baud_rate>

Example:

comchan --auto --baud 115200

Use a Configuration File

Starting from version 0.1.9, you can use a configuration file instead of command-line flags:

# Generate default configuration file
comchan --generate-config

This creates a config file at ~/.config/comchan/comchan.toml

Example Configuration:

# ComChan Configuration File
#
# This file contains default settings for comchan serial monitor.
# Command line arguments will override these settings.
#
# To use auto-detection, set port = "auto"
# Available parity options: "none", "odd", "even"
# Available flow control options: "none", "software", "hardware"

port = "auto"
baud = 9600
data_bits = 8
stop_bits = 1
parity = "none"
flow_control = "none"
timeout_ms = 500
reset_delay_ms = 1000
verbose = false
plot = false
plot_points = 100

[!NOTE] The default baud rate is 9600. You can customize it in the config file or override it with command-line flags (--auto, --port/-p, --baud/-r, --plot).

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Features

Current Features ✅

• Read Serial Data - Monitor incoming serial data from any serial port
• Write to Serial Port - Send data to your serial device
• Basic Logging - Save serial output to log files
• Auto-Detect Serial Ports - Automatically find connected serial devices
• Configuration Files - Use .toml files instead of command-line flags
• Terminal-Based Serial Plotter - Visualize data in real-time with the --plot flag
• Multiple Sensor Plotting - Plot multiple sensor values simultaneously with legends

Planned Features 🚧

• Export Serial Data - Write serial data to files (.txt, .csv, and more)

Legends

• ✅ Implemented Features
• 🚧 Yet to be implemented

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Examples

"Hello World" Program

Basic serial monitoring in action:

📝 View Arduino code

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User Input

Interactive serial communication:

📝 View Arduino code

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Serial Plotter

Real-time data visualization:

📝 View Arduino code

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Auto Serial Port Detector

Automatic port detection in action:

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Using the Configuration File

Serial Monitor (plot = false)

Serial Plotter (plot = true)

Serial Plotter Multiple Sensor Values

Plot multiple sensors simultaneously with automatic legends:

📝 View Arduino code

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Full Working Demo

Complete workflow demonstration:

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ComChan in Windows

As of Version 0.2.2, ComChan works perfectly on Windows with no limitations!

Windows Installation:

1. Download the .exe file from the releases page
2. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell
3. Navigate to the download location:

   cd Downloads
   

4. Run ComChan:

   comchan.exe --help
   

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Contributing

We welcome contributions to ComChan! 🎉

Please see our CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to contribute.

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Feedback Form

We value your feedback! ComChan uses Bashforms for terminal-based feedback submission.

To submit feedback, run this in your terminal:

ssh -t bashform.me f comchan

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OSCG Guidelines

Contributor Guidelines

📖 View Contributor Guidelines

Mentor Guidelines

📖 View Mentor Guidelines

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Community

Stargazers over time (Graph)

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Made with ❤️ by the ComChan Community

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