1.  You can easily use faster baud rates like 57600.

2.  vt102 is the best terminal emulation offered by the kernel.  For more information - "man console_codes".  For a comparison of various terminals see the Kermit 95 Terminal Types list.

3.  On Ubuntu Edgy Eft (6.10) or later, Upstart is used instead of init.  To configure ttyS0, create a new entry in /etc/event.d by copying one of the existing tty# entries and modifying it.  Example ttyS0:

------------------------------------------------------
# ttyS0 - getty
#
# This service maintains a getty on ttyS0 from the point the system is
# started

start on runlevel-2
start on runlevel-3
start on runlevel-4
start on runlevel-5

stop on shutdown

respawn /sbin/getty -L 38400 ttyS0 vt102
------------------------------------------------------

4.  On Ubuntu, for a non-root user to access ttyS0 they must be a member of the dialout group.

5.  Some versions of Grub (0.95, 0.97) on Edgy Eft have broken serial support.  See bug #32904.  This appears to be fixed in Feisty Fawn (7.04) Herd 5.

6.  Other options for serial terminals are minicom, cu, and c-kermit:

apt-get install minicom
man minicom
minicom -s # Initial setup.  Set port as required and erase modem init and reset strings.
minicom # Normal startup.  You are connected immediately.  Enter Ctrl-A followed by "Z" for help.

apt-get install cu
man cu
cu -lttyS0
Enter "~.~." to disconnect.

apt-get install ckermit
man kermit
kermit -l /dev/ttyS0 -b 38400 -8
Enter "?" for a list of commands.  Enter "connect" to connect to port.  Enter a Ctrl-\ and then a "C" to return to local.

7.  You can run Midnight Commander through a terminal.  Minicom doesn't support graphic characters well so using cu or kermit is recommended.

apt-get install mc
mc
mc -c # if you want color (overrides MC's default behavior which is based on target system's TERM variable)

One of the limitations of the vt100/vt102 terminals is the lack of support for function keys other than F1-F4 and some navigation keys.  In MC you can use Esc # where # is 1-9,0 representing the F1-F10 menu keys.


Other references:

http://www.linuxselfhelp.com/HOWTO/Text-Terminal-HOWTO-9.html
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/Text-Terminal-HOWTO/
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#Serial-terminal

Also see serial-console.txt in the kernel documentation.