> >
> >You really should bite the bullet and learn how to do what you need with
the
> >Windows API. I've implemented quite a few things using the API, and while
it
> >is a pain, it can (almost?) always get the job done, if you are creating
> >enough.
>
> Mr Bob:
>
> Would it be possible to write a low level driver, that would take data
from
> COM1, and make it appear as COM2,3,4... and likewise with outbound data,
> collecting from COMx and moving it to COM1?
>
> I realize that there would need to be a protocol, and I've worked that bit
> out already.
>
> The mystery to me, is how to create "virtual" comports.
> I think this is similar to how USB serials work, since there's no
> conventional uart hardware there.
>

In Win32, your various COMn ports are created by the device drivers that
support whatever serial port hardware you have. There is no fixed
relationship between a specific piece of hardware and the corresponding 'n'.

You should have an appropriate driver for whatever serial port hardware you
have. Windows comes, out of the box, with a driver for conventional UART
based serial ports. Smart and dump multiport cards are available from many
places like Digiboard. USB interfaced serial ports are starting to become
common.

To move data from one such port to another doesn't require any 'low level
driver' but rather an application that reads from one port and writes to the
other.

Bob Ammerman
RAm Systems
(contract development of high performance, high function, low-level
software)

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