Serial access in Classic

R

rbrak

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Can an extension be written to allow serial port access by older Mac apps that need serial port access in Classic (not going through USB to serial conduit). Has such an extension been written? I am not a programmer, but one would think with all the smart open source people out there, it would not be too hard to do. I am sure Apple will not write it.

RB
 
Classic applications should have no trouble seeing the serial ports on machines that have them built-in. For example, on my PowerMac 8500 the serial ports are visible to both Mac OS X and Classic. And on my G4/450 which has a serial modem built-in the modem is exposed as /dev/cu.modem and /dev/tty.modem (according to the POSIX standard).
 
That is not correct. You cannot see, let alone access, serial ports in the Chooser in Classic. Even a company that produces serial ports that go in the modem slot of new G4 says serial ports cannot be accessed in Classic. This still begs the question, why can't someone make an extension so Classic can use the serial? MacOS X can see the port, it just does not allow Classic to see it unless it goes through USB (USB to Serial adapter).

RB
 
slur, just because Mac OS X has access to serial ports doesn't mean Classic exposes these ports to the virtual environment!

Classic does NOT, I repeat NOT provide virtual ports for Classic apps to use. The only way to allow Classic apps to use built-in ports while using Mac OS X is if there was a program which piped serial port access over tcp/ip. It would have to create a serial device in MacOS by either patching the old API or providing a comm toolbox device then you would need an equivalent program on the Mac OS X side. I do not recall any such program for MacOS.

BTW this issue has been discussed in this forum before (search for localtalk).
 
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