Minicom ymodem issue

This was a simple fix, but took a while to figure out because of less than informative error messages. While trying to transfer a file (a Linux kernel) using minicom and ymodem we got a protocol failed error when using one machine (my laptop) and it worked on another. After checking versions of minicom, serial adapter drivers, ymodem config, etc… we noticed that minicom is setup to use /usr/bin/rb and /usr/bin/sb for ymodem comm. Turns out, they weren’t installed! On Debian (*buntu) the lrzsz package is what is needed. A quick apt-get install lrzsz and we were up and running.

Gotta love cryptic error messages!