colored text on Serial Monitor

Using Arduino Programming Questions
#1

I want to print colored (text) outputs on my Serial Monitor. Is there an option to do it? I looked at TFT library, but that is for colored text on LCD screen. I want colored text on my Serial Monitor.

#2

You need a different serial monitor. The VT100 terminal emulation can do colour. Look for a serial terminal which can do that.

#3

but, that requires a new hardware. right? MorganS?

#4

No, otherwise he would have said so...

The "shortcoming" is in the Arduino IDE Serial Monitor.

#5

I use PuTTY on Windows. It can display ANSI codes: http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/scripting/terminalcodes

So this statement displays as it says it does:

Serial.println("\033[1;32mbold green text\033[0m plain text\n");

And there is at least one library available to hide the details: http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=37439.0

#6

Well you could get a real VT100 terminal. Think 1970s computers. It's a large device, much bigger than any computer monitor you've ever seen. The screen itself is relatively small but it's deep - a couple of feet of bench space is required. There's probably a lot on ebay but shipping on this ~40kg device will be expensive.

Much better to download an emulator like putty.

#7

Hackscribble: I use PuTTY on Windows. It can display ANSI codes: http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/scripting/terminalcodes

Well, well, well..... we live and learn. I use PuTTY but didn't know that. Brilliant.

#8

It's a pity though, that apart from not honouring the codes, the IDE serial monoitor prints all the codes instead of just ignoring them. (It does seem to realise the 33 is escape though.)

I get this in the serial monitor, which is a shame:

e[1;32mbold green texte[0m plain text

That means a sketch to do that good stuff in PuTTY can't be used with the serial monitor.

#9
  1. So, it seems that VT100 is that 40kg external hardware we require.
  2. is it working properly on windows PUTTY?, or are there any issues with it?
#10

is it working properly on windows PUTTY?, or are there any issues with it?

I have not tested it thoroughly. You could Google to see if there is a PuTTY support forum and ask there.

As well as a big old physical terminal, VT100 was also a terminal code standard. I think it is the same as / got absorbed into the ANSI standard. But if you are looking for terminal emulation programs, you may see some that talk about VT100 instead of ANSI.

#11

gvsaikrishna: is it working properly on windows PUTTY?, or are there any issues with it?

PuTTY's web site has a FAQ, a wishlist, a changes list and a feedback page. If I were you I'd go and have a look there.

#12