Use a USB to RS232 serial converter from Ubuntu / Debian

Detection of the USB-Serial converter used on your machine (so you get the correct device name to use later):

1. tail -f /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog
2. Plug in the USB cable
3. It will show up like this:
   Nov 19 16:53:12 nyx kernel: [30040.171597] usb 2-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

Connect with screen as follows:
screen <device> <speed> root@nyx:~# screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

Disconnect with CTRL+a followed by CTRL+d:
[detached from 4197.pts-2.nyx]