Minicom is a text-based modem control and terminal emulator program for Unix-like operating systems including Cygwin, originally written by Miquel van Smoorenburg, and modeled somewhat after the popular MS-DOS program Telix but is open source.

Minicom includes a dialing directory, ANSI and VT100 emulation, an (external) scripting language, and other features.

A common use for Minicom is when setting up a remote serial console, perhaps as a last resort to access a computer if the LAN is down.

This can be done using nothing more than a 386 laptop with a Minicom floppy distribution such as Pitux or Serial Terminal Linux.

Minicom is useful to create console for devices having no display such as switches, routers or server blade enclosure.