From: David Allsopp Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Help needed: reading COM1 Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1999 14:34:47 +0000 Organization: Tranquillity Software Ltd. Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tqbase.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: tqbase.demon.co.uk:193.237.23.6 X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 918139266 nnrp-13:22292 NO-IDENT tqbase.demon.co.uk:193.237.23.6 X-Complaints-To: abuse AT demon DOT net MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Newsreader: Turnpike (32) Version 4.01 Lines: 37 To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com Summary: need help in writing simple program to read from COM ports under Win95. Background: I'm a freelance programmer, database applications mostly. When one of my customers said "Can you write something to read a short, simple string from COM1 and write it out to a file?", I thought "Well, I haven't used C for years, but this doesn't sound too hard." This is exactly what you'd expect an old Unix programmer to think, of course. So, after some research, I've got the latest DJGPP compiler, and I've started in on the FAQ, which is, of course, huge. Could anyone help me short-circuit the process of finding what I want, please? The program I need to write must: Open COM1 (or possibly another COM) and send a character. Read a short (~30 char) string from the port. Write the string out to a file. Time out after 5 seconds if the port (a weighbridge, actually) doesn't reply. There is no windowing/GUI functionality needed at all. What's the best start point in the FAQ, and which are the relevant libraries, please? I'm gradually getting the rust off my C skills, but it's taking a while... Thanks in advance. -- David Allsopp Houston, this is Tranquillity Base. Remove SPAM to email me The Eagle has landed.