figured it out. If anyone is interested:
#stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 cs8 115200 ignbrk -brkint -icrnl -imaxbel -opost -onlcr -isig -icanon -iexten -echo -echoe -echok -echoctl -echoke noflsh -ixon -crtscts
make sure /dev/ttyUSB0 or whatever is your arduino, and 115200 is the baud you did your Serial.begin(XXXX) with
taken from this forum:
http://www.crystalfontz.com/forum/showthread.php?p=19562
it isn't perfect, but it works pretty good