using digi boards for serial communication

[appcim]

Hello,
My job is to set up serial communications between computers and CNC machine tools (DNC). I have to trick Procomm into thinking the Digi-board comm ports I use are modems. The problem is when run a script to send/receive it takes about 30 seconds for the script to start. This is only for ports above com5. I'm guessing Procomm wants to check the 'modem' before starting. Is there a setting somewhere to tell Procomm to not check the status?

Thank you,

 

[knob]

Are the boards appearing in Procomm as a direct connect or a modem? You can check this by looking at the third box over on the Quick Select Line at the bottom of the Procomm window. If it doesn't say direct connect-Com5 for instance, then Procomm thinks it's a modem connection and may be trying to determine the fax capabilities of the "modem." You can disable this by selecting the Options | System Options | Modem Connection menu item, making sure the correct connection is selected, and then unchecking the Use this modem/connection to send faxes checkbox.

 

[appcim]

Thanks knob,
I cannot get Procomm to see a direct-connect above com9 (I think I said com5 above but I was mistaken) I can see the com port in my Windows Device Manager but not in Procomm. The only way I can see a higher port is if it's an installed modem. I have un-checked the use connection to send faxes but it still goes through with checking for fax capabilities. Direct connect-COM9 and below work great. Do you think this is a limitation of Procomm?

Thanks

 

[knob]

Procomm can only "see" com ports up to COM9. A hack was put in the last release of Procomm that may or may not work for you. The experience I've seen from others is that it usually does not work and is not supported by Symantec. Here is a link from the Symantec site telling how to perform this modification, hopefully it will work for you:

http://service2.symantec.com/SUPPORT/procomm.nsf/pfdocs/2000103009311626

 

[MosGerila]

If you really need more than 9 COM ports and you can't get the hack to work, I suggest you use a COM port switch (matrix) that you can control via.. of course, a COM port!
This way you can live with only 2 COM ports: one connected to the matrix, from where it will be switched to your various devices you want to talk to, and another COM port to control the matrix itself.

Check out these guys, they make some serial matrices:

http://www.cytec-ate.com

 

[jend]

I am attempting to connect to a modem bank via a telnet session using ProComm. However, I have not been able to establish a connection to any of the modems via the telnet session. Once I have established my telnet connection to the modem bank, I receive a 'BUSY' or 'NO CARRIER' message after issuing modem commands such as:

atdt (800) 876-5555 < Enter >

I am able to establish a dial up connection to the same number using a local modem. I'm looking for information on the commands needed to communicate with each modem within the modem bank. Can you provide any insight, or direct me to any sources that provide this type of information?

Thank you.

 

[tobie]

APPCIM,

I am having the same problem, did you ever find a solution?

Thanks!

 

[appcim]

tobie,
I have not found a solution to speed up the connection. The hack knob recommended did not work (we're using an older version). I proposed MosGerila's idea about the switch matrix but my customer didn't like the investment required.

Sorry,
appcim

 

[knob]

Are all of your Digiboard COM5 or higher, or do you have some below COM5 that do work correctly? aspect@aspectscripting.com

http://www.aspectscripting.com

 

[tobie]

Knob,

Here is a little more information from what I tried. I tried to follow document #2000103009311626 titled &quot;How to configure Procomm Plus to support connections above COM PORT 9&quot;, but it seems to display com10, com11, com12 in the direct connection list, but they all seem to be assigned to com1. I have the following configuration:
DELL with 2 built-in com ports (com1 & com2)
a SIIG PCI COMM card (com3 & com4)
a DIGI PCI 8 port (com5 - com12)
I can talk to all ports with hyperterm, so I do know they work. After I add the following lines to pw5.ini
[options]
AddPortsCount=3
AddPortsStartNumber=10
I delete pw5.prm, reboot the machine, and start procomm.
It re-creates the pw5.prm file and procomm starts. If I look at the direct connections pull-down I see com10, com11, & com12 have been created, but if I try to select com10 it selects com1. I use a text editor and view the file pw5.prm and look for direct connect-Com10, I
see it is set to com1. I tried to manual change it in the file, but it still does not work. Also, Com1-9 work fine in procomm.

Any ideas? Has anyone gotten this to work?

 

[knob]

I don't believe I've ever seen this work for any customer and I'm surprised Symantec just doesn't remove it from their site.
aspect@aspectscripting.com

http://www.aspectscripting.com