Request: Serial above COM4.

classicsat · Post by **classicsat** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 10:22 am

I request the next version IR have more that Com4 selectable, or better yet a drop down menu of available COM ports.

I am experimenting with a number of serial devices, and they typically enumerate above Com4, and it is a pain to have to go clear the registry of unused com ports to get them to enumerate to Com 3 or 4. My desktop system has no COM ports free below COM5, so I cannot run JP1 experiments on it at all, except for legacy serial or parallel adapters.

Post by **vickyg2003** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 10:42 am

I may be way off base here, since I haven't added new equipment in years, and always plug all my stuff into the same ports, but if I remember correctly isn't there an "always use" to lock the port when you add a new serial device?

classicsat · Post by **classicsat** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:01 am

Not always. I have a USB serial adapter that chooses a a different port (and installes drives) for different USB ports it connects to. And almost always it is a port above Com4, which I cannot use on IR, especially on the desktop system, where COM1/2 are real RS232 ports, and and COM3/4 are nabbed by what I think is my Bluetooth Dongle (which I need present).

cauer29 · Post by **cauer29** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:20 am

classicsat wrote:Not always. I have a USB serial adapter that chooses a a different port (and installes drives) for different USB ports it connects to. And almost always it is a port above Com4, which I cannot use on IR, especially on the desktop system, where COM1/2 are real RS232 ports, and and COM3/4 are nabbed by what I think is my Bluetooth Dongle (which I need present).

Most USB serial ports allow you to force the com port number via device manager property sheet. You may have to move another port to free up the number you want, but it is possible. As for your USB to serial adapter using different com port numbers depending on which port it's connected to, that's because it does not contain an electronic serial number. If it did, the operating system would assign the same com port number no matter where you plug it in. Absent an electronic serial number, the OS has to assume that the same model device in a different USB port, must be a different device entirely and so assigns it a different com port number. There are plenty of USB to serial port adapters out there, that do have electronic serial number.

A.A.

xnappo · Post by **xnappo** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:27 pm

It has been a while since I looked at the serial driver code, but I believe that if you just leave the port number to 'auto' it will check any active COM port for a JP1 interface...

xnappo

gfb107 · Post by **gfb107** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:03 pm

I think he's talking about the JP1 Serial interface, not the JP1.x USB/Serial interface.

classicsat · Post by **classicsat** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:05 am

I never seen an Auto option anywhere.

Still, it is archaic for software to only have COM 1 to COM 4 as an option.

xnappo · Post by **xnappo** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 11:30 am

Yeah - sorry 'auto' is only for the JP1.x interface.

xnappo