diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index f8379ce..42580fe 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -81,6 +81,14 @@ pub struct SerialStream {
     pipe: NamedPipe,
 }
 
+#[cfg(unix)]
+fn map_nix_error(e: nix::Error) -> crate::Error {
+    crate::Error {
+        kind: crate::ErrorKind::Io(StdIoErrorKind::Other),
+        description: e.to_string(),
+    }
+}
+
 impl SerialStream {
     /// Open a nonblocking serial port from the provided builder
     ///
@@ -525,11 +533,21 @@ impl TryFrom<NativeBlockingSerialPort> for SerialStream {
     type Error = crate::Error;
     #[cfg(unix)]
     fn try_from(port: NativeBlockingSerialPort) -> std::result::Result<Self, Self::Error> {
-        // Set the O_NONBLOCK flag.
         log::debug!(
-            "setting O_NONBLOCK for {}",
+            "switching {} to asynchronous mode",
             port.name().unwrap_or_else(|| String::from("<UNKNOWN>"))
         );
+        log::debug!("setting VMIN = 1");
+        use nix::sys::termios::{self, SetArg, SpecialCharacterIndices};
+        let port_fd = unsafe { BorrowedFd::borrow_raw(port.as_raw_fd()) };
+        let mut t = termios::tcgetattr(port_fd).map_err(map_nix_error)?;
+
+        // Set VMIN = 1 to block until at least one character is received.
+        t.control_chars[SpecialCharacterIndices::VMIN as usize] = 1;
+        termios::tcsetattr(port_fd, SetArg::TCSANOW, &t).map_err(map_nix_error)?;
+
+        // Set the O_NONBLOCK flag.
+        log::debug!("setting O_NONBLOCK flag");
         let flags = unsafe { libc::fcntl(port.as_raw_fd(), libc::F_GETFL) };
         if flags < 0 {
             return Err(StdIoError::last_os_error().into());