No I haven't tried Arduino.
The script above worked when using it on my other ten year old laptop that ubuntu 10 installed on it and a serial port.
Now I have a new laptop with ubuntu 12 installed, and a laptop that only has USB ports. I would really like to get this programme going. I think it's a permission thing. When testing the ports my RS232 adapter does get identified. It's just when I run the script I get the baudrate message. Any ideas??