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From: brevard@mcc.com (Laurence Brevard)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d,comp.sources.wanted
Subject: Re: Controlling PC via serial port
Summary: Use pcANYWHERE.
Keywords: PC, serial port, terminal
Message-ID: <793@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM>
Date: 24 Feb 89 23:34:44 GMT
References: <900@mtunf.ATT.COM> <13228@steinmetz.ge.com> <41aa98a9.11a9f@uhura.engin.umich.edu>
Sender: news@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM
Reply-To: brevard@mcc.com (Laurence Brevard)
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Distribution: usa
Organization: MCC VLSI CAD Program
Lines: 67
In-reply-to: ejd@caen.engin.umich.edu (Edward J Driscoll)

In article <41aa98a9.11a9f@uhura.engin.umich.edu>, ejd@caen (Edward J Driscoll) writes:
>In article <13228@steinmetz.ge.com> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes:
>>In article <900@mtunf.ATT.COM> arr@mtunf.ATT.COM (Andrew Raffman) writes:
>>| I'm working on a project here which requires me to be able to run my PC from
>>| an ASCII terminal hooked into the serial port. Does anyone know of any such
>>| programs, either public domain or commercial? I have heard that they are often
>>| used by people running BBS's.
>>
>>	CTTY COM1
>>put it in your autoexec.bat file. If you need login security (you didn't
>>say you did) add a tiny password checker as the next command in
>>autoexec.
>>
>Right.  I don't use this command (it's a DOS command, BTW) but I
>seem to recall that it transfers IO to the serial port EXCLUSIVELY.
>One of Andrew's desired features was the ability to use the console
>also.
>-- 
>Ed Driscoll
>ejd@caen.engin.umich.edu

pcANYWHERE and Carbon Copy (and presumably Hayes' Remote2?) are
commercial programs that allow remote control of a PC via a serial
line.  This can be done over a modem or with a direct connection using
a null modem cable or adaptor.

With pcANYWHERE you run a program called ANYWHERE as a TSR in the PC
to be controlled.  The serial connection can be another PC or any of
about two dozen supported terminal types.

With CTTY COM1 you can only run a program that takes input from
standard in (STDIN) and outputs to standard out (STDOUT).  If a
program writes directly to video ram or even uses the low level bios
calls your terminal will not see the changes.  

Even worse, if the program hooks into the bios to grab the keyboard at
a low level for input, it will not respond to your terminal and you're
probably dead!

With the above programs a small daemon "process" monitors all screen
changes and sends them to the remote system or terminal so that the
remote screen matches the PC screen.  For input, the keystrokes coming
from the terminal are hooked in at a very low level -- with pcANYWHERE
almost all hot-key invocation of other TSRs still works.

NOTE:  with this setup YOU DO NOT HAVE TWO USERS.  You have two
screens and two keyboards "wired" in parallel.  This is extremely
useful for remote support of a client -- you can call in and run the
computer while they watch or watch them operate the system.

If you want two simultaneous users... well that's a whole different
story.  PC-MOS is an alternative to MS-DOS that is semi-compatible and
lets additional users have standard in/out programs at terminals.

Some BBS operators that I know of use DoubleDOS to have 2 MS-DOSs.  

It might be fun to try DoubleDOS with ANYWHERE resident in one half so
that half can go to the terminal -- I don't think it would work
because there is only one set of video ram.  Maybe with a color and
monochrome controller both in the system...  :-)

DISCLAIMER:  I have no affiliation with pcANYWHERE other than as a
satisfied user.  I have never tried Carbon Copy or Remote2.

Laurence Brevard   3500 W.Balcones Center Dr, Austin,TX 78759   [512] 338-3567
ARPA: brevard@mcc.com          UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cadillac!brevard
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC)    VLSI CAD Program