Serial Ports on Windows

I created this page in case some people may have some questions or answers about [using a serial port] on Windows.

I just tried to communicate with com1 on a Windows 2000 machine.  For some reason I could not recieve any data using the following commands in Wish.
   % proc rd_chid {chid} {
   set msg [gets $chid]
   puts $msg
   }
   % set com [open com1: r+]
   % fconfigure -mode 9600,n,8,1 -blocking 0 -translation auto -buffering line
   % fileevent $com readable [list rd_chid $com]

However, I was able to recieve data by putting those last 3 lines into its' own procedure...

   % proc rd_chid {chid} {
   set msg [gets $chid]
   puts $msg
   }
   % proc open_com {} {
   global com
   set com [open com1: r+]
   fconfigure $com -mode 9600,n,8,1 -blocking 0 -translation auto -buffering line
   fileevent $com readable [list rd_chid $com]
   }
   % open_com
   # lots of data comes streaming :)
   % close $com
jg

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In the belief that Tcl will benefit greatly from improved serial-port
programmability, I recommend that the Universal Serial Port Python
[http://balder.prohosting.com/ibarona/en/python/uspp/uspp_en.html] extension
will interest many readers.  I think it offers much from which we can
learn.

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I have added the missing "$com" behind the "fconfigure command.
mlo