what software would I use to console to my cisco router via COM1 through my serial port? On SuSE 8.0?

We use USB to 7 serial port adapters in these cases. Stuff like this one, except some chinese no-name for 1/10 the price. There are also products that present physical serial ports over LAN, useful ...

Well it certainly seems that there are a lot of you out there that watch the used router market for lab hardware pretty closely. Thanks for the continued insights into what makes sense, and what doesn ...