[NTLUG:Discuss] Reading raw serial input?

[Elequin]

I'm new to anything involving serial ports or parallel ports in linux,
so please forgive the newbie question.  (Hell, it took me an hour to
figure out what device to use in minicom to connect serial to my cisco!)
Anyway, I have this cute little device called a Sohotools Connect-ID
that basically listens on the phone line and collects caller-ID
information, and then reports it to a piece of Windows software via
serial port.  I hooked it up via serial to one of my linux boxes and
opened up minicom and then placed a call to my home phone.  All it did
was spit out a bunch of garbage.  It apparently reports name and number
info, plus maybe a timestamp.  Are there any utils available to read raw
serial port input?

 - Eric, who could also never get a printer to work under linux, but
that's a different story.