Serial connection using COM ports

jaristr · 01-25-2007, 06:28 AM

Hello.
I am planning to connect two machines using a serial cable in com ports but I don't know what software can be used or what configurations should be made. I remember once doing this using windows 98 and the connection was quite laggy and perhaps buggy.
But anyway, can you give some tips what should be done to get started in order to configure such connection? What about linux PC (ubuntu) and windows XP?

Thank you.

michaelk · 01-25-2007, 06:45 PM

Something along the lines of laplink?
http://www.linuxdig.com/howto/ldp/Se...link-HOWTO.php

The XP new connetion wizard appears to be able to setup a direction connection similar to 9x but I have never tried it.

jaristr · 01-26-2007, 10:28 AM

Thanks! But I was not able to setup a connection from winXP to ubuntu yet. By reading that tutorial and viewing the configuration files on linux it appeared that all the settings were alright. So I tried to connect from XP using a com1 serial connection where I typed in the linux user name and password but it said that the remote machine is not properly configured (not responding).
So if there's any tutorial from windows user point of view that could be just what I need.
Well I will give it another try later.

inspiron_Droid · 01-26-2007, 10:34 AM

Redmonds; software is eveil in that department. How ever with time and a measured amount of will power and self controll you can do any thing you put your mind too.

michaelk · 01-26-2007, 11:24 AM

Have you successfully configures a linux - linux serial configuration?
And you are using a null modem serial cable.
You can verify the connection via minicom on linux and hyperterm on windows.

jaristr · 01-27-2007, 06:21 AM

Thanks for the replies! I am using a null modem but I only have windows and linux so I havent been able to test linux - linux connection. The linux doesn't unfortunately have minicom installed and I cannot install it in any easy way because there's no net connection at all.
But when I was reading the tutorial again I begun to think about this: "On the server we will connect through the "/dev/ttyS1" (COM2 in DOS/Windows) device. " . Now on this windows machine there is only one Serial port and I thought that would mean com1 then and on the linux I plugged the cable to com1 as well, does this sound right? Considering that I suppose I should then use ttyS0 ?
Sorry if that was unclear I'll read more from the instructions and try to connect from windows to the linux machine using the hyperterminal.

jaristr · 01-27-2007, 07:00 AM

Hmm hard to say what I'm doing wrong. I went trough the tutorial again and set everything for the linux server but I dont know if hyperterminal is able to connect because it doesnt say much. It always reads connected on the hyperterminal status bar.

And I also wonder if it's really nesessary to create the "/etc/ppp/options.ttySn" file but I did create it anyway (created "ttyS0")

jaristr · 01-28-2007, 01:10 PM

I ran to addition problem, the pppd should be started everytime when booted when the command is called from /etc/inittab but the xbuntu (which Im running this) does not have that file! I read from some developer bug report that they changed this and a update to the manual pages is required to inform people about this. And that the new files (note multiple) are located in /etc/events.d
phew...

any one know's where should the lines that would normally goto inittab be put now?

Thanks for reading.

jaristr · 02-03-2007, 07:46 AM

Sorry for posting so many times here but I am getting closer to the solution, I think.

I was able to connect two windows XPs but now Im trying to connect to XP from xubuntu and it doesnt quite work.

I have followed the instructions from here under section "3. On the client side" and did the prepartions for connecting to windows under "3.2. Connecting to an MS Windows server" but when I try to connect this is what the terminal shows (after typing "pppd /dev/ttyS1 nodetach"):

Code:

Serial connection established
Using interface ppp0
Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttyS1
LCP: timeout sending Config-Request
Connection terminated

Sorry if there are any typos in there because I had to type it in here. But I am pretty sure that ttyS1 (note 1) is the correct one to use (COM 2), because that's what I had to use in windows as well.

Still something is wrong, I get no other indication on the windows server side except small disk usage when the connect attemp is made.

Any ideas? Thanks for your time!

jaristr · 02-05-2007, 01:25 PM

So close! I got the windows to connect to the linux following these instructions: http://www.linuxsolved.com/forums/ftopic22.html
But still need to get the connection working on other way (from linux to windows).
I am unsure what needs to be changed on linux side, windows should be ready to accept connections.

I tried using "'' CLIENT\c" in the chat connect script (like in the first tutorial) but it doesnt seem to help. Any ideas what other changes should be made?

Thanks, all tips are welcome!