Sharing a com port across a network

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

COM Ports cannot be shared. You would need to create and run a program
on the machine with the COM port with which a remote machine could
communicate and to which the instructions for the cutting machine
could be transferred acoss the network.


On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:22:20 -0400, "Blankman" <none@microsoft.com>
wrote:

>I've got a good one for ya. We're running a sign software on one machine
>(machine A) that connects to a cutting machine via the COM port. This
>machine is connected to another machine (machine B) by a crossover cable so
>we can share files and hopefully cutting functions. The machine the cutter
>is connected to (machine A) doesn't have the cutter installed as a printer
>but rather the software actually looks for the connection at the com port
>and loads the drivers upon being opened. Is there a way to share a com port
>on machine A so I can tell my software on machine B that the cutter is
>connected remotely?
>
>Thanks for any insight you can provide.
>


Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher


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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

How would I create such a program?

"Peter R. Fletcher" <pfletch(at)fletchers(hyphen)uk.com> wrote in message
news:785jd0li1pkcppue4p49igrhkhp437pd2s@4ax.com...
> COM Ports cannot be shared. You would need to create and run a program
> on the machine with the COM port with which a remote machine could
> communicate and to which the instructions for the cutting machine
> could be transferred acoss the network.
>
>
> On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:22:20 -0400, "Blankman" <none@microsoft.com>
> wrote:
>
> >I've got a good one for ya. We're running a sign software on one machine
> >(machine A) that connects to a cutting machine via the COM port. This
> >machine is connected to another machine (machine B) by a crossover cable
so
> >we can share files and hopefully cutting functions. The machine the
cutter
> >is connected to (machine A) doesn't have the cutter installed as a
printer
> >but rather the software actually looks for the connection at the com port
> >and loads the drivers upon being opened. Is there a way to share a com
port
> >on machine A so I can tell my software on machine B that the cutter is
> >connected remotely?
> >
> >Thanks for any insight you can provide.
> >
>
>
> Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the
exchange.
> Peter R. Fletcher
>
>
> ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet
News==----
> http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000
Newsgroups
> ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption
=---

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

In the computer language of your choice! It would not be a trivial
application.

Another approach would be to modify the original cutter driver
application to allow sequences of instructions to be written to a file
and subsequently read back in and sent to the cutter when needed.
Depending on exactly how the application works and is designed this
might not be quite such a big deal to code. With this approach, you
would run the application in "write to file mode" on the remote
machine, transfer the instruction file across the network to the
machine with the cutter attached, and then run the application in
"live mode" from the file.

I don't think that there is a solution to your problem that does not
require access to the source of the cutter driver application and a
substantial amount of programming.

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 10:56:13 -0400, "Blankman" <none@microsoft.com>
wrote:

>How would I create such a program?
>
>"Peter R. Fletcher" <pfletch(at)fletchers(hyphen)uk.com> wrote in message
>news:785jd0li1pkcppue4p49igrhkhp437pd2s@4ax.com...
>> COM Ports cannot be shared. You would need to create and run a program
>> on the machine with the COM port with which a remote machine could
>> communicate and to which the instructions for the cutting machine
>> could be transferred acoss the network.
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:22:20 -0400, "Blankman" <none@microsoft.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >I've got a good one for ya. We're running a sign software on one machine
>> >(machine A) that connects to a cutting machine via the COM port. This
>> >machine is connected to another machine (machine B) by a crossover cable
>so
>> >we can share files and hopefully cutting functions. The machine the
>cutter
>> >is connected to (machine A) doesn't have the cutter installed as a
>printer
>> >but rather the software actually looks for the connection at the com port
>> >and loads the drivers upon being opened. Is there a way to share a com
>port
>> >on machine A so I can tell my software on machine B that the cutter is
>> >connected remotely?
>> >
>> >Thanks for any insight you can provide.
>> >
>>
>>
>> Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the
>exchange.
>> Peter R. Fletcher
>>
>>
>> ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet
>News==----
>> http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000
>Newsgroups
>> ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption
>=---
>


Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher


----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000 Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Well that's not what I wanted to hear.

Thanks for your help though!
Buster

"Peter R. Fletcher" <pfletch(at)fletchers(hyphen)uk.com> wrote in message
news:288jd0d6188laj9or2ca7tg4abct4dfdqn@4ax.com...
> In the computer language of your choice! It would not be a trivial
> application.
>
> Another approach would be to modify the original cutter driver
> application to allow sequences of instructions to be written to a file
> and subsequently read back in and sent to the cutter when needed.
> Depending on exactly how the application works and is designed this
> might not be quite such a big deal to code. With this approach, you
> would run the application in "write to file mode" on the remote
> machine, transfer the instruction file across the network to the
> machine with the cutter attached, and then run the application in
> "live mode" from the file.
>
> I don't think that there is a solution to your problem that does not
> require access to the source of the cutter driver application and a
> substantial amount of programming.
>
> On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 10:56:13 -0400, "Blankman" <none@microsoft.com>
> wrote:
>
> >How would I create such a program?
> >
> >"Peter R. Fletcher" <pfletch(at)fletchers(hyphen)uk.com> wrote in message
> >news:785jd0li1pkcppue4p49igrhkhp437pd2s@4ax.com...
> >> COM Ports cannot be shared. You would need to create and run a program
> >> on the machine with the COM port with which a remote machine could
> >> communicate and to which the instructions for the cutting machine
> >> could be transferred acoss the network.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:22:20 -0400, "Blankman" <none@microsoft.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >I've got a good one for ya. We're running a sign software on one
machine
> >> >(machine A) that connects to a cutting machine via the COM port. This
> >> >machine is connected to another machine (machine B) by a crossover
cable
> >so
> >> >we can share files and hopefully cutting functions. The machine the
> >cutter
> >> >is connected to (machine A) doesn't have the cutter installed as a
> >printer
> >> >but rather the software actually looks for the connection at the com
port
> >> >and loads the drivers upon being opened. Is there a way to share a com
> >port
> >> >on machine A so I can tell my software on machine B that the cutter is
> >> >connected remotely?
> >> >
> >> >Thanks for any insight you can provide.
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the
> >exchange.
> >> Peter R. Fletcher
> >>
> >>
> >> ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet
> >News==----
> >> http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000
> >Newsgroups
> >> ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via
Encryption
> >=---
> >
>
>
> Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the
exchange.
> Peter R. Fletcher
>
>
> ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet
News==----
> http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000
Newsgroups
> ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption
=---

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 16:35:20 +0100, Peter R. Fletcher
<pfletch(at)fletchers(hyphen)uk.com> wrote:

>In the computer language of your choice! It would not be a trivial
>application.

AKA... I don't have a clue! ;-)

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 11:52:43 -0500, "Blankman"
<none@microsoft.com> wrote:

>Well that's not what I wanted to hear.
>
>Thanks for your help though!
>Buster

Do a google search. The below might be of interest. You might try
mapping the appropriate drives on the computers, but not quite
sure what you are wanting to do.

http://www.traversix.com/ConnectivitySystem.html

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 03:14:26 GMT, shb*NO*SPAM*@comporium.net (Si
Ballenger) wrote:

>On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 16:35:20 +0100, Peter R. Fletcher
><pfletch(at)fletchers(hyphen)uk.com> wrote:
>
>>In the computer language of your choice! It would not be a trivial
>>application.
>
>AKA... I don't have a clue! ;-)

On the contrary! I have written low-level drivers for various bits of
hardware under a number of OSes in the past. It could be done, but I
didn't think that this approach was likely to be helpful to the OP,
hence my offhand answer.

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher


----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
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---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

There are network enabled devices which place a COM port directly on the
network. Using a Windows device drive will "map" the networked COM port to
a "virtual" COM port.

Check out one such product:

http://www.lavalink.com/products/ether_serial/prod_ethe...


"Blankman" <none@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:%23DFmeUSWEHA.212@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> I've got a good one for ya. We're running a sign software on one machine
> (machine A) that connects to a cutting machine via the COM port. This
> machine is connected to another machine (machine B) by a crossover cable
so
> we can share files and hopefully cutting functions. The machine the cutter
> is connected to (machine A) doesn't have the cutter installed as a printer
> but rather the software actually looks for the connection at the com port
> and loads the drivers upon being opened. Is there a way to share a com
port
> on machine A so I can tell my software on machine B that the cutter is
> connected remotely?
>
> Thanks for any insight you can provide.
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

You can use a program called TCPCom to shzre COM ports across a
network.
TCPCom is a utility that is designed to expose a serial port to a
TCP/IP port on a network and it can also create "Virtual COM ports"
that are really connections to a TCP/IP port.
To share a serial port across a network, you would run TCPCom as a
TCP/IP server opening up the physical COM port on the PC where the
device is connected to the serial port that you want to share.
In that same PC you would run another instance of TCPCom and set it up
to create a "Virtual COM port" that connects as a TCP/IP client to the
first instance of TCPCom (the server instance).
You could then run TCPCom on other workstations in the same network
and configure TCPCom to connect as a TCP/IP client to the "server
instance" running in the PC where the device is connected to the COM
port and also have it create a Virtual COM port.

The Server instance of TCPCom will allow multiple client connections
therfore you will be able to share the same physical COM port with as
many workstations as you like and have all of them be able to
communicate over the same physical COM port simultaneously.

You would then run your serial communications software on both PCs and
instead of opening the real COM ports, you would open the Virtual COM
ports instead.
You can download a fully functional demo copy of TCPCom from the
following web page:
http://www.taltech.com/products/tcpcom.html

More detailed instructions on how to share com ports with TCPCom can
be found in the on-line help for the program.


On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:22:20 -0400, "Blankman" <none@microsoft.com>
wrote:

>I've got a good one for ya. We're running a sign software on one machine
>(machine A) that connects to a cutting machine via the COM port. This
>machine is connected to another machine (machine B) by a crossover cable so
>we can share files and hopefully cutting functions. The machine the cutter
>is connected to (machine A) doesn't have the cutter installed as a printer
>but rather the software actually looks for the connection at the com port
>and loads the drivers upon being opened. Is there a way to share a com port
>on machine A so I can tell my software on machine B that the cutter is
>connected remotely?
>
>Thanks for any insight you can provide.
>