Best serial monitor?
I just write short Python programs using pySerial:
>>> import serial
>>> ser = serial.Serial(0) # open first serial port
>>> print ser.portstr # check which port was really used
>>> ser.write("hello") # write a string
>>> ser.write(0xa4) # write a byte
>>> ser.close() # close port
You want something like PuTTY or TeraTerm for human-readable serial i/o, or a good programming environment that makes it easy to open/access serial ports. I'm not a Python expert but MrEvil has a good point. Also the jsdb Javascript shell has an easy-to-use COM port feature:
S = new Stream('com1://115200');
S.write(0xf4);
take a look at bray terminal at http://hw-server.com/software/termv19b.html
i think it's the best free terminal