Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ptsfa!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter
From: peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: One more modem Please!
Message-ID: <1303@sugar.UUCP>
Date: 23 Dec 87 01:25:22 GMT
References: <6327@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Sugar Land UNIX - Houston, TX
Lines: 58
Keywords: Help me!

In article <6327@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>, spencer@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Randy Spencer) writes:
> In article <4300@garfield.UUCP> joseph@garfield.UUCP (Joseph Dawson) writes:
> >  How can I hook up a second modem to my A1000?
> 
> This is as good a time as any to start a new discussion on the net, so,
> if you were building a second serial port for the Amiga, would you:
> 
> A:	Rewrite the serial.device so that it supports you or the
> 	built in port.  Address each as seperate unit numbers.

Sounds like a good idea, but as you pointed out it'd cause problems with
multiple drivers.

> B:	Write a second serial device called something else and
> 	expect that programmers will allow users to open a named
> 	device,

This is not so good an idea from a utilities viewpoint, but better for
future compatibility.

>	or mount the device as SER2: and use from the
> 	CLI.

Best of all would be to use a named AmigaDOS device for the purpose.

	QUESTION: Is it possible to get from SER: to serial.device the
	same way you get to the console.device from CON:?

Idea:	open "SER:port", then go for the device specified. SER: would
	be mounted with rs232.device. rs232.device would take the
	port id and set up the file handle as if SER: had called that
	particular port directly.

> Then comes all the other questions:
> 
> What do you do about preferences?

Write a new program that sets up using rs232.device to get to
the various serial.devices.

> Currently you can only open the
> onboard ports for the printer.device to talk to, how do you change that
> for good, so that you can hang a serial printer on the new port.

Don't know.

> How do you get software designers to acknowledge your board, in either
> of the above situations the software designer has to either allow the
> user to open the serial.device with a specific unit number, or has to
> allow you to open a named device (like I want to open the parallel.device
> and run a terminal program between two Amigas!).  Or do we send the 
> programmers to talk to Dos Devices and open SER2:?

See above. If you do this provide sample code to encourage people to go for
it. Amiga programmers seem to like doing things as well behaved a way as
possible. I'm heartened (spent too much time in the CP/M family swamp).
-- 
-- Peter da Silva  `-_-'  ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter
-- Disclaimer: These U aren't mere opinions... these are *values*.