Thread: limit on com ports?

The only limit on com ports is the resources in your computer you will need and IRQ and i/o numbers. When you get your I/O to give you the other 2 serials ports check it out to see if it will let you setup the port to all of the IRQs and stuff some won't which could be a pain getting the 2 ports running.

Awol

Dragyn -

Where did you get / make your auto off box ?

Some software is hard-coded to only allow COM1-COM4 to be selected. If you need more serial ports, move whatever devices have software support for higher ports (i.e. COM5-COMxx) to the new ports, to make room for devices that only have COM1-COM4 support.

--Jason

I think theoretically the number of COM ports is limited to 255... though I could be wrong there (it's been a while!)

To support more than 3 or 4 COM interfaces though, you're probably going to have to start looking at high-end serial options like cards from http://www.digi.com... a good supplier whose products I've learned to trust (and sometimes hate) over the years. They have good stable drivers for most Windows variants... and Linux has them built into the kernel (though you'd need a custom kernel to support them).

Hope this helps.

Remember: You can use the DOS MODE command to redirect unused LPT port designations to COM ports, and vice versa. This will allow you two more COM ports, if the software allows.

------------------
Aaron Cake
London, Ontario, Canada

Player: Cyrix 200, 32MB RAM, 10.2Gig Quantum HD, Onboard EtherNet/Sound/Video, Custom Lexan Case, Arise DC-DC, Win95 Kernal w/Custom Player
Car: '86 Mazda RX-7 w/Basic Performance Upgrades