Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!tjs From: tjs@cs.monash.edu.au (Toby Sargeant) Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.beginners Subject: Re: Serial lead & COM ports Date: 23 Nov 1998 01:44:14 GMT Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE) Lines: 54 Message-ID: References: <3658B934.5D2C@manc.u-net.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: longford.cs.monash.edu.au Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Newsreader: slrn (0.9.4.3 UNIX) On Mon, 23 Nov 1998 01:24:04 +0000, James Shaughnessy wrote: >You see my PC has only 2 COM ports on the motherboard. COM1 >is used for the mouse, and COM2 for the Modem. Now, as you >know the Yaroze-PC serial lead wants a COM port so it's a game >of "musical chairs" every time I want to do something. >So I just have to swap the modem/yaroze cable every time I want >to use the repective device. Do most of you do this, or do >a lot of people have 4 COM ports? Or do you all splash out on a >serial card? Call me tight but I'm not paying PC-WORLD £35 for one. >That cash can go towards more important things (like Turok 2, Zelda >etc..) I use a 2 port serial card. Very few motherboards have more than 2 serial ports, although some have a ps/2 mouse port, which you can use to free up a com port, if you really want to. I got my serial card for ~$30, which is 1/2 - 1/3 the price you've quoted. I think if you looked harder, you should be able to find a much better price. >My solution (like an idiot) to my prob was to buy an INTERNAL >modem, thus freeing up COM2. How naive. Of course having bought >one it tells me I have to DISABLE COM2 for it to work. DOH!!!! >Straight back it went, along with my dreams of a handy internal >56k modem and the idea of using my Yaroze, modem and mouse all >at the same time. You can get internal modems that can use many different port/IRQ assignments. This is the kind of thing you've got to specify, though, and hope that the sales assistant actually knows what you're talking about. >It's not so much me being lazy, but swapping the leads twice a day >puts unnecessary strain on the Yaroze cable's internal wires. >Will buying a serial card fix my problem, or just introduce IRQ >conflicts and waste memory with sorry-arse resident TSR drivers? Adding extra com ports might cause you problems if you're not careful. com3 and com4 share IRQs with com1 and com2. This is normally fine, if the driver is written to accomodate it. The win95/NT drivers are fine, but of course siocons bypasses the OS and goes straight to the hardware, so it's hard to say whether it'll work with IRQ sharing. On the other hand, linux doesn't have a problem sharing IRQs, and psxfer works like a charm :) If you're careful about the serial card you get, you'll be able to stick one of the ports on IRQ 5, and then just don't connect anything to the other one. All in all, I'd suggest doing something about the situation, but whether that something is purchasing a (better) internal modem, or a (cheaper & better) serial card, I don't know. >Will Penelope Pitstop escape? Not if I can help it. Toby..