I figured I'd give a rundown of serial terminals I regularly use on Linux to access consoles on embedded boards through a serial port. I tend to favor both Putty (runs on Windows and Linux) and screen, but a couple others are listed here as well.
Putty
Arduino Course for Absolute Beginners digitalRead() and Serial Port Communication. As simple as it may seem, knowing when something is either on or off can be a great tool for designing something useful. Aug 9, 2018 - I have never attempted to use PHP serial communication when things were on a Pi. By default, Linux sends it's console to the serial port too.
This is a GUI that's pretty feature rich. It can also be used for SSH and telnet.
This will bring up the putty GUI an you can then select serial, enter the device path '/dev/ttyUSB0', and enter the baudrate.
screen
This is a console based program that's not easy to use for the beginner, but it's very powerful.
minicom
This is a console based program that's tried and true, but not easy to use for the beginner.
You can then follow the menu options to configure the serial port and get on your way.
picocom
cutecom
This is a GUI that's pretty bare bones.
Now, you can use the GUI to configure and open the serial port device.
Have a program you prefer that's not listed? Put it in the comments.