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Subject: Re: Direct cable connections

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 07:58:14 11/30/98

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On November 30, 1998 at 10:27:28, James T. Walker wrote:

>Can anyone give me help in connecting two computers via a null modem cable.  I
>have win98 on both computers but can't make them talk to each other using the
>Direct cable connection of win98.  Anyone doing computer/computer testing must
>have gone through this already. Any help apprecited.
>Thanks,
>Jim Walker


If you are having problems, two important tests.  (1) make sure your cable
is ok.  (2) make sure the ports are ok.

Testing the cable might be tricky unless you have another one from a
different supply source handy.  One way to test the port is to use a normal
cable and connect to a modem.  Fire up hyper-terminal and type "at" to see
if you get the "at" echoed from the modem, and then you get the OK response.

I initially used win98 on my notebook to talk to the DGT board, and discovered
that the supplied cable was wrong and needed a null-modem adapter.  Once you get
both machines to talk to the modem and get an ok back, you know the ports are
ok.  Make sure both ports are set to the same baud rate, parity, number of
stop bits, etc, and then try the null-modem cable again.  I'd use the dumb
hyperterminal test first...  what you type on one keyboard should show up on
the *other* screen if it is working.

common problems I have had include IRQ assignments, particularly when you have
an internal modem.  These things typically use IRQ3 or IRQ4.  If it conflicts
with your serial port, your bios may well disable the serial port without
saying a thing.  Find out where your serial port is set and then see if you
can jumper your modem to the other IRQ.  If they share one you can definitely
get odd results, from lost characters to nothing at all...

But at least on my gateway 9100 notebook, win98 can talk to my serial port with
no problem.  And I assume your null-modem cable is one with just a simple
DB-9F on each end, without any sort of adapter?  IE it is possible to get
a null-modem cable DB-9f on one end, DB25-M on the other, and then use a
25-9 adapter that is *also* a null-modem adapter... and that undoes the
null-modem cable and screws things up...

You can find these cables at places like radio shack and comp-usa at least,
and if you have a large electronics supply house (I use Forbes here) they
carry a zillion different types as well...



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