Free Virtual Serial Port Emulator 4,5/5 6490 votes

We have compiled a list of the top virtual serial port driver applications that are on the market. If you require the creation of virtual COM ports on a computer running the Windows 7 or Windows 10 operating system then read on. One of these software solutions may be just what you need to help you create virtual COM ports.

  1. Create Virtual Port Windows 10

Contents

  1. Best 6 Virtual Serial Port applications:

Virtual Serial Port Driver


Virtual Serial Port Driver is a software package developed by Eltima Software that functions as a virtual COM port emulator on Windows machines. The software enables you to create virtual COM ports that you can connect in pairs by using a virtual null-modem cable. Every virtual serial port that you create will communicate with your serial applications as if they were actually physical ports.


This virtual null-modem software runs on both the 32 and 64-bit flavors of the Windows operating system up to and including the most recent release of Windows 10. Microsoft has officially signed Virtual Serial Port Driver so you can be assured of its compatibility with Windows.

An OEM License brings you a Dynamic Link Library with VSPD that enables you to use your own applications to directly control virtual serial ports. Faster serial communication is a by-product of emulating serial interfaces. The virtual null-modem cable affords higher data transfer rates than a traditional, physical null-modem cable. The average speed of the emulated null-modem cable is 5.5 Mbytes/sec and is based on your system’s processor speed.

Virtual COM Port Driver enables the user to create an unlimited number of virtual COM ports that are instantly identified by any serial hardware or software that you install. The application does not occupy any physical serial ports, and the virtual ports function in the same way as a hardware interface. Functionality such as strict baud rate emulation, emulating serial line breaks, and full HandFlow control support are characteristics of the virtual ports that you create.

Flexibility is a feature of Virtual Serial Port Driver. Using the tool you can create ports only intended for the current user session. RDP users have the ability to create ports using the same name, such as COM1, in each user’s session. You can also delete interfaces that are already opened and in use by other programs.

VSPD supports both VMware and hyper-threading.

Virtual Serial Port Driver PRO - advanced functionality


The PRO version of Virtual Serial Port Driver offers some advanced functionality that may be useful for your situation.


Among the features of VSPD PRO are:


  • The ability to split one physical or virtual serial port into multiple virtual RS232 ports.
  • You can merge an unlimited number of virtual or hardware serial ports into one virtual port.
  • You can create complex port bundles.
  • Serial traffic can be forwarded from one real port to another physical or virtual port.
  • The capacity to set individual read handwrite permissions for each virtual port.
  • Using the Activity Log to save data regarding application’s port usage.
  • Automatic port switching with the Switcher feature that allows your program to communicate through any free port as if it was always the same interface.
  • 01

    Add COM ports Windows 10

  • 02

    Create virtual COM ports for Proteus

  • 03

    Serial port programming in C++

Virtual Serial Port Kit


FabulaTech’s Virtual Serial Port Kit is a software tool that enables you to emulate serial ports. These RS232 virtual ports that are created can be connected with a virtual null-modem cable. The functionality of the virtual COM interfaces is identical to that of a physical serial port.

When data is transferred to one of the virtual ports it is simultaneously available to the interface at the other end of the virtual pair. All of the virtual RS232 ports that you create on your system are available before user login as the application runs as a Windows system service. This ensures that they will be recreated after a system reboot.

Free Virtual Serial Ports


The solution offered by HDD - Free Virtual Serial Ports is focused on the emulation of custom plug-and-play serial and I/O ports interfaced by 16550 UART.

This free virtual null-modem emulator software allows the creation of a virtual copy of hardware null-modem cables with either DB-25 or DE-9 connectors. Two RS-232 DTE devices can communicate with each other without the need of a modem or any other DCE. This RS-232 null-modem emulator application’s stability is facilitated by the fact that is works exclusively in user-mode.

Virtual Serial Ports Emulator


The next entry in our list of virtual com port software is Virtual Serial Ports Emulator which is developed by Eterlogic. It is designed for software engineers that need to develop serial applications and allows them to create, test and debug applications and devices that employ serial interfaces.

Some of the benefits of this program and the virtualization of ports are that the same device can be opened by multiple applications and you can create pairs of virtual serial ports.

Serial interfaces can also be shared by multiple applications at the same time and a COM interface can use TCP to enact sharing of the port on a local network.

This program offers support for Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32/64), and
Windows 7.

A free license is available for 32-bit platforms. If you require the 64-bit version you will need to obtain a paid version of the software.

Com0com


This solution is an open source kernel-mode virtual serial port driver that enables the emulation of serial communication interfaces. A COM interface can be created with this program that works with device emulation applications. Essentially, this means that you can connect a device emulation app to one end of a serial port pair while the other end of the pair is occupied by a Windows application that requires communication with the device.

An example of this in practice is sharing faxes over an IP network. You simply connect a Windows Fax application to a modem using a pair of virtual serial ports.

More details of these software solutions are available by visiting the developers’ website. There are definitely differences among the options including the fact that some of them are free while others require a financial investment. In certain cases, you may need to expose your source code in order to use them for application development.

Note: Not all of the solutions support the newest Windows OS version which may pose problems for you.

How to choose the best solution for your needs?


A benefit of a paid solution is that you receive regular program updates and customer support for your money. This can be a determining factor if you are doing serious development and want the most up-to-date null-modem emulator application available. We hope that this brief overview of your options assists you in choosing the right virtual RS-232 software for your specific project or usage scenario.

The preceding comparison of virtual null-modem software tools indicates that Eltima Software’s Virtual Serial Port Driver offers more features than the other solutions. Ease of use, quality customer support, and a focus on data protection are some of the advantages of this product. It also features a user-friendly interface that makes it an easy task to create and delete virtual COM ports.

In the next part, we describe step-by-step tutorial how to create virtual serial port pairs with VSPD by Eltima Software and you will be able to check by yourself this COM port emulator.

The extended capabilities of the PRO version make this flexible software application an effective and powerful tool for developers or users who need to work with serial devices.

How to create virtual COM port with VSPD?


Here are a few simple steps you should follow to add a virtual serial port to your machine with this dedicated Virtual COM Port Windows 10 utility:

  1. Download Virtual Serial Port Driver on your Windows machine.
  2. Install the application on your system and launch it.
  3. Choose “Manage Ports” in the application’s main window.
  4. Click the “Add pair” button to create a pair of virtual serial ports. You are not limited to COMx names and can name them as you wish.
  5. The created pair of ports will appear in your Device Manager and be available for use immediately upon creation.

Why are serial ports still used?


Virtual

Serial or COM ports have been the standard method of connecting peripheral devices to a computer ever since the introduction of personal computers in the late 20th Century. The introduction of the more flexible USB ports has caused a decline in the number of devices and computers that make use of COM interfaces.

In fact, many of the computers that are manufactured today are not equipped with any serial ports at all. Some machines take it a step further and do not have ports of any type, relying on wireless connectivity to peripheral devices.

The reduction in reliance on COM ports in machines and devices used for general purposes has not eliminated the requirement for serial connectivity. There are many special-purpose devices that still make use of serial interfaces to communicate with computers. Some examples are industrial automation monitoring devices, medical monitoring equipment, and specialized laboratory equipment.

Engineers who are developing these serial devices or applications that interact with them require the ability to test and debug their products before releasing them to the public. This can be problematic with current computers as there may not be serial ports available on the machine. Serial port emulation might be just the answer you are looking for if you in this kind of situation.

Where and how are virtual serial ports used?


Virtual serial ports can be useful in a number of situations. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Sharing a serial monitoring device - If you have a serial monitoring device in an industrial production facility it may be transmitting data that is used as input for a number of different applications. Creating virtual serial ports from a single port lets all of your applications receive their data at the same time.

Accessing serial devices from newer model computers - Most computers sold today do not have serial ports, but by creating a virtual serial port on your machine you can access serial data over a network. This allows you to extend the life of your legacy, serial-based devices.

Accessing multiple serial devices - Network attached serial devices can be assigned virtual RS232 ports that can then be merged into a single virtual port that can be used by your application.

Free Virtual Serial Port Emulator

These are just a few ways that virtual ports can be used. If you work with serial devices or applications a serial port emulator like Virtual Serial Port Driver can be an essential component of your software toolbox.

Virtual Serial Port Driver

Requirements: Windows (32-bit and 64-bit): XP(only Standard)/2003(only Standard)/2008/ Vista/7/8/10, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016 , 5.46MB size
Version 9.0.572 (4th Aug, 2017) Release notes
Category: CommunicationApplication
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A maleD-subminiature connector used for a serial port on an IBM PC compatible computer along with the serial port symbol.

In computing, a serial port is a serial communication interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time (in contrast to a parallel port).[1] Throughout most of the history of personal computers, data was transferred through serial ports to devices such as modems, terminals, and various peripherals.

While such interfaces as Ethernet, FireWire, and USB all send data as a serial stream, the term 'serial port' usually identifies hardware more or less compliant to the RS-232 standard, intended to interface with a modem or with a similar communication device.

Modern computers without serial ports may require USB-to-serial converters to allow compatibility with RS-232 serial devices. Serial ports are still used in applications such as industrial automation systems, scientific instruments, point of sale systems and some industrial and consumer products. Server computers may use a serial port as a control console for diagnostics. Network equipment (such as routers and switches) often use serial console for configuration. Serial ports are still used in these areas as they are simple, cheap and their console functions are highly standardized and widespread. A serial port requires very little supporting software from the host system.

  • 1Hardware
  • 3Settings

Hardware[edit]

Some computers, such as the IBM PC, use an integrated circuit called a UART. This IC converts characters to and from asynchronous serial form, implementing the timing and framing of data in hardware. Very low-cost systems, such as some early home computers, would instead use the CPU to send the data through an output pin, using the bit banging technique. Before large-scale integration (LSI) UART integrated circuits were common, a minicomputer would have a serial port made of multiple small-scale integrated circuits to implement shift registers, logic gates, counters, and all the other logic for a serial port.

Early home computers often had proprietary serial ports with pinouts and voltage levels incompatible with RS-232. Inter-operation with RS-232 devices may be impossible as the serial port cannot withstand the voltage levels produced and may have other differences that 'lock in' the user to products of a particular manufacturer.

Low-cost processors now allow higher-speed, but more complex, serial communication standards such as USB and FireWire to replace RS-232. These make it possible to connect devices that would not have operated feasibly over slower serial connections, such as mass storage, sound, and video devices.

Many personal computer motherboards still have at least one serial port, even if accessible only through a pin header. Small-form-factor systems and laptops may omit RS-232 connector ports to conserve space, but the electronics are still there. RS-232 has been standard for so long that the circuits needed to control a serial port became very cheap and often exist on a single chip, sometimes also with circuitry for a parallel port.

IBM PC Serial Card with a 25-pin connector (obsolete 8-bit ISA card)
A PCI Express ×1 card with one serial port
A four-port serial (RS-232) PCI Express ×1 expansion card with an octopus cable that breaks the card's DC-37 connector into four standard DE-9 connectors
A converter from USB to an RS-232 compatible serial port; more than a physical transition, it requires a driver in the host system software and a built-in processor to emulate the functions of the IBM XT compatible serial port hardware.

DTE and DCE[edit]

The individual signals on a serial port are unidirectional and when connecting two devices the outputs of one device must be connected to the inputs of the other. Devices are divided into two categories data terminal equipment (DTE) and data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE). A line that is an output on a DTE device is an input on a DCE device and vice versa so a DCE device can be connected to a DTE device with a straight wired cable. Conventionally, computers and terminals are DTE while modems and peripherals are DCE.

If it is necessary to connect two DTE devices (or two DCE devices but that is more unusual) a cross-over null modem, in the form of either an adapter or a cable, must be used.

Male and female[edit]

DE-9 gender changers, showing both male (visible on the left) and female DE-9 connectors (visible on the right)

Generally, serial port connectors are gendered, only allowing connectors to mate with a connector of the opposite gender. With D-subminiature connectors, the male connectors have protruding pins, and female connectors have corresponding round sockets.[2] Either type of connector can be mounted on equipment or a panel; or terminate a cable.

Connectors mounted on DTE are likely to be male, and those mounted on DCE are likely to be female (with the cable connectors being the opposite). However, this is far from universal; for instance, most serial printers have a female DB25 connector, but they are DTEs.[3]

Connectors[edit]

While the RS-232 standard originally specified a 25-pin D-type connector, many designers of personal computers chose to implement only a subset of the full standard: they traded off compatibility with the standard against the use of less costly and more compact connectors (in particular the DE-9 version used by the original IBM PC-AT). The desire to supply serial interface cards with two ports required that IBM reduce the size of the connector to fit onto a single card back panel. A DE-9 connector also fits onto a card with a second DB-25 connector. Starting around the time of the introduction of the IBM PC-AT, serial ports were commonly built with a 9-pin connector to save cost and space. However, presence of a 9-pin D-subminiature connector is not sufficient to indicate the connection is in fact a serial port, since this connector is also used for video, joysticks, and other purposes.

Some miniaturized electronics, particularly graphing calculators and hand-held amateur and two-way radio equipment, have serial ports using a phone connector, usually the smaller 2.5 or 3.5 mm connectors and use the most basic 3-wire interface.

Many models of Macintosh favor the related RS-422 standard, mostly using German mini-DIN connectors, except in the earliest models. The Macintosh included a standard set of two ports for connection to a printer and a modem, but some PowerBook laptops had only one combined port to save space.

Since most devices do not use all of the 20 signals that are defined by the standard, smaller connectors are often used. For example, the 9-pin DE-9 connector is used by most IBM-compatible PCs since the IBM PC AT, and has been standardized as TIA-574. More recently, modular connectors have been used. Most common are 8P8C connectors, for which the EIA/TIA-561 standard defines a pinout, while the 'Yost Serial Device Wiring Standard'[4] invented by Dave Yost (and popularized by the Unix System Administration Handbook) is common on Unix computers and newer devices from Cisco Systems. 10P10C connectors can be found on some devices as well. Digital Equipment Corporation defined their own DECconnect connection system which is based on the Modified Modular Jack (MMJ) connector. This is a 6-pin modular jack where the key is offset from the center position. As with the Yost standard, DECconnect uses a symmetrical pin layout which enables the direct connection between two DTEs. Another common connector is the DH10 header connector common on motherboards and add-in cards which is usually converted via a cable to the more standard 9-pin DE-9 connector (and frequently mounted on a free slot plate or other part of the housing).

9-pin to 25-pin D-type adapter cable
Pair of femaleMini DIN-8 connectors used for RS-422 serial ports on a Macintosh LC computer
A Hirose 3560-16S used for RS-232 on a Tatung TWN-5213 CU tablet computer. Below is a mating 3540-16P-CV connector.

Pinouts[edit]

The following table lists commonly used RS-232 signals and pin assignments.[5]

SignalDirectionConnector pin
NameV.24 [de] circuitAbbreviationDTEDCEDB-25DE-9
(TIA-574)
MMJ8P8C ('RJ45')10P10C ('RJ50')
EIA/TIA-561Yost (DTE)Yost (DCE)Cyclades[6]Digi (ALTPIN option)[7]National Instruments[8]Cyclades[6]Digi[9]
Transmitted Data103TxDOutIn23266334845
Received Data104RxDInOut32553665976
Data Terminal Ready108/2DTROutIn204137228739
Data Carrier Detect109DCDInOut81N/A2277110810
Data Set Ready107DSRInOut6661N/A8N/A592
Ring Indicator125RIInOut229N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A2101
Request To Send105RTSOutIn47N/A88112423
Clear To Send106CTSInOut58N/A71857368
Signal Ground102GCommon753, 444, 54, 546657
Protective Ground101PGCommon1N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A3N/A14
Vape

The signal ground is a common return for the other connections; it appears on two pins in the Yost standard but is the same signal. The DB-25 connector includes a second 'protective ground' on pin 1, which is intended to be connected by each device to its own frame ground or similar. Connecting this to pin 7 (signal reference ground) is a common practice but not recommended.

Note that EIA/TIA 561 combines DSR and RI,[10][11] and the Yost standard combines DSR and DCD.

Powered serial port[edit]

Some serial ports on motherboards or add-in cards provide jumpers that select whether pin 1 of the DE-9 connector connects to DCD or a power supply voltage, and whether pin 9 of the DE-9 connector connects to RI or a power supply voltage. The power supply voltage can be +5V, +12V, +9V, or ground. (Selection varies by vendor.) The power is intended for use by point-of-sale equipment. Makers include Dell[12], HP, and others[13] (This is not an official standard.)

Hardware abstraction[edit]

Operating systems usually create symbolic names for the serial ports of a computer, rather than requiring programs to refer to them by hardware address.

Unix-like operating systems usually label the serial port devices /dev/tty*. TTY is a common trademark-free abbreviation for teletype, a device commonly attached to early computers' serial ports, and * represents a string identifying the specific port; the syntax of that string depends on the operating system and the device. On Linux, 8250/16550 UART hardware serial ports are named /dev/ttyS*, USB adapters appear as /dev/ttyUSB* and various types of virtual serial ports do not necessarily have names starting with tty.

The DOS and Windows environments refer to serial ports as COM ports: COM1, COM2,..etc. Ports numbered greater than COM9 should be referred to using the .COM10 syntax.[14]

Common applications for serial ports[edit]

The RS-232 standard is used by many specialized and custom-built devices. This list includes some of the more common devices that are connected to the serial port on a PC. Some of these such as modems and serial mice are falling into disuse while others are readily available.

Serial ports are very common on most types of microcontroller, where they can be used to communicate with a PC or other serial devices.

Create Virtual Port Windows 10

  • Dial-up modems
  • Configuration and management of networking equipment such as routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers
  • GPS receivers (typically NMEA 0183 at 4,800 bit/s)
  • Bar code scanners and other point of sale devices
  • LED and LCD text displays
  • Satellite phones, low-speed satellite modems and other satellite based transceiver devices
  • Flat-screen (LCD and Plasma) monitors to control screen functions by external computer, other AV components or remotes
  • Test and measuring equipment such as digital multimeters and weighing systems
  • Updating firmware on various consumer devices.
  • Hobbyist programming and debugging MCU's
  • Stenography or Stenotype machines
  • Software debuggers that run on a second computer
  • Industrial field buses
  • Computer terminal, teletype
  • Older digital cameras
  • Networking (Macintosh AppleTalk using RS-422 at 230.4 kbit/s)
  • Older GSMmobile phones
  • IDEhard drive[15][16]repair[17][18]

Since the control signals for a serial port can be easily turned on and off by a switch, some applications used the control lines of a serial port to monitor external devices, without exchanging serial data. A common commercial application of this principle was for some models of uninterruptible power supply which used the control lines to signal loss of power, low battery, and other status information. At least some Morse code training software used a code key connected to the serial port, to simulate actual code use. The status bits of the serial port could be sampled very rapidly and at predictable times, making it possible for the software to decipher Morse code.

Settings[edit]

Some common speeds
Bit rate
(Baud rate)
Time per
bit
Windows
support[19]
50 bit/s20000 µsNo
75 bit/s13333.3 µsYes
110 bit/s9090.9 µsYes
134.5 bit/s7434.9 µsYes
150 bit/s6666.6 µsYes
300 bit/s3333.3 µsYes
600 bit/s1666.7 µsYes
1,200 bit/s833.3 µsYes
1,800 bit/s555.6 µsYes
2,400 bit/s416.7 µsYes
4,800 bit/s208.3 µsYes
7,200 bit/s138.9 µsYes
9,600 bit/s104.2 µsYes
14,400 bit/s69.4 µsYes
19,200 bit/s52.1 µsYes
38,400 bit/s26.0 µsYes
56,000 bit/s17.9 µsYes
57,600 bit/s17.4 µsYes
76,800 bit/s13.0 µsNo
115,200 bit/s8.68 µsYes
128,000 bit/s7.81 µsYes
230,400 bit/s4.34 µsNo
256,000 bit/s3.91 µsNo
460,800 bit/s2.17 µsNo

Many settings are required for serial connections used for asynchronous start-stop communication, to select speed, number of data bits per character, parity, and number of stop bits per character. In modern serial ports using a UART integrated circuit, all settings are usually software-controlled; hardware from the 1980s and earlier may require setting switches or jumpers on a circuit board. One of the simplifications made in such serial bus standards as Ethernet, FireWire, and USB is that many of those parameters have fixed values so that users cannot and need not change the configuration; the speed is either fixed or automatically negotiated. Often if the settings are entered incorrectly the connection will not be dropped; however, any data sent will be received on the other end as nonsense.

Speed[edit]

Serial ports use two-level (binary) signaling, so the data rate in bits per second is equal to the symbol rate in baud. A standard series of rates is based on multiples of the rates for electromechanical teleprinters; some serial ports allow many arbitrary rates to be selected. The port speed and device speed must match. The capability to set a bit rate does not imply that a working connection will result. Not all bit rates are possible with all serial ports. Some special-purpose protocols such as MIDI for musical instrument control, use serial data rates other than the teleprinter series. Some serial port systems can automatically detect the bit rate.

The speed includes bits for framing (stop bits, parity, etc.) and so the effective data rate is lower than the bit transmission rate. For example, with 8-N-1 character framing only 80% of the bits are available for data (for every eight bits of data, two more framing bits are sent).

Bit rates commonly supported include 75, 110, 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600 and 115200 bit/s.[20]Crystal oscillators with a frequency of 1.843200 MHz are sold specifically for this purpose. This is 16 times the fastest bit rate and the serial port circuit can easily divide this down to lower frequencies as required.

Data bits[edit]

The number of data bits in each character can be 5 (for Baudot code), 6 (rarely used), 7 (for true ASCII), 8 (for most kinds of data, as this size matches the size of a byte), or 9 (rarely used). 8 data bits are almost universally used in newer applications. 5 or 7 bits generally only make sense with older equipment such as teleprinters.

Most serial communications designs send the data bits within each byte LSB (least significant bit) first. This standard is also referred to as 'little endian.' Also possible, but rarely used, is 'big endian' or MSB (most significant bit) first serial communications; this was used, for example, by the IBM 2741 printing terminal. (See Bit numbering for more about bit ordering.) The order of bits is not usually configurable within the serial port interface. To communicate with systems that require a different bit ordering than the local default, local software can re-order the bits within each byte just before sending and just after receiving.

Parity[edit]

Parity is a method of detecting errors in transmission. When parity is used with a serial port, an extra data bit is sent with each data character, arranged so that the number of 1 bits in each character, including the parity bit, is always odd or always even. If a byte is received with the wrong number of 1s, then it must have been corrupted. However, an even number of errors can pass the parity check.

Electromechanical teleprinters were arranged to print a special character when received data contained a parity error, to allow detection of messages damaged by line noise. A single parity bit does not allow implementation of error correction on each character, and communication protocols working over serial data links will have higher-level mechanisms to ensure data validity and request retransmission of data that has been incorrectly received.

The parity bit in each character can be set to one of the following:

  • None (N) means that no parity bit is sent at all.
  • Odd (O) means that parity bit is set so that the number of 'logical ones' must be odd.
  • Even (E) means that parity bit is set so that the number of 'logical ones' must be even.
  • Mark (M) parity means that the parity bit is always set to the mark signal condition (logical 1).
  • Space (S) parity always sends the parity bit in the space signal condition (logical 0).

Aside from uncommon applications that use the last bit (usually the 9th) for some form of addressing or special signaling, mark or space parity is uncommon, as it adds no error detection information. Odd parity is more useful than even, since it ensures that at least one state transition occurs in each character, which makes it more reliable. The most common parity setting, however, is 'none', with error detection handled by a communication protocol.

Stop bits[edit]

Stop bits sent at the end of every character allow the receiving signal hardware to detect the end of a character and to resynchronise with the character stream. Electronic devices usually use one stop bit. If slow electromechanical teleprinters are used, one-and-one half or two stop bits are required.

Conventional notation[edit]

The data/parity/stop (D/P/S) conventional notation specifies the framing of a serial connection. The most common usage on microcomputers is 8/N/1 (8N1). This specifies 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit. In this notation, the parity bit is not included in the data bits. 7/E/1 (7E1) means that an even parity bit is added to the 7 data bits for a total of 8 bits between the start and stop bits. If a receiver of a 7/E/1 stream is expecting an 8/N/1 stream, half the possible bytes will be interpreted as having the high bit set.

Flow control[edit]

In many circumstances a transmitter might be able to send data faster than the receiver is able to process it. To cope with this, serial lines often incorporate a 'handshaking' method, usually distinguished between hardware and software handshaking.

Hardware handshaking is done with extra signals, often the RS-232 RTS/CTS or DTR/DSR signal circuits. Generally, the RTS and CTS are turned off and on from alternate ends to control data flow, for instance when a buffer is almost full. DTR and DSR are usually on all the time and, per the RS-232 standard and its successors, are used to signal from each end that the other equipment is actually present and powered-up. However, manufacturers have over the years built many devices that implemented non-standard variations on the standard, for example, printers that use DTR as flow control.

Software handshaking is done for example with ASCIIcontrol charactersXON/XOFF to control the flow of data. The XON and XOFF characters are sent by the receiver to the sender to control when the sender will send data, that is, these characters go in the opposite direction to the data being sent. The circuit starts in the 'sending allowed' state. When the receiver's buffers approach capacity, the receiver sends the XOFF character to tell the sender to stop sending data. Later, after the receiver has emptied its buffers, it sends an XON character to tell the sender to resume transmission. It is an example of in-band signaling, where control information is sent over the same channel as its data.

The advantage of hardware handshaking is that it can be extremely fast; it doesn't impose any particular meaning such as ASCII on the transferred data; and it is stateless. Its disadvantage is that it requires more hardware and cabling, and these must be compatible at both ends.

The advantage of software handshaking is that it can be done with absent or incompatible hardware handshaking circuits and cabling. The disadvantage, common to all in-band control signaling, is that it introduces complexities in ensuring that a) control messages get through even when data messages are blocked, and b) data can never be mistaken for control signals. The former is normally dealt with by the operating system or device driver; the latter normally by ensuring that control codes are 'escaped' (such as in the Kermit protocol) or omitted by design (such as in ANSI terminal control).

If no handshaking is employed, an overrun receiver might simply fail to receive data from the transmitter. Approaches for preventing this include reducing the speed of the connection so that the receiver can always keep up; increasing the size of buffers so it can keep up averaged over a longer time; using delays after time-consuming operations (e.g. in termcap) or employing a mechanism to resend data which has been corrupted (e.g. TCP).

'Virtual' serial ports[edit]

A virtual serial port is an emulation of the standard serial port. This port is created by software which enable extra serial ports in an operating system without additional hardware installation (such as expansion cards, etc.). It is possible to create a large number of virtual serial ports in a PC. The only limitation is the amount of resources, such as operating memory and computing power, needed to emulate many serial ports at the same time.

Virtual serial ports emulate all hardware serial port functionality, including baud rate, data bits, parity bits, stop bits, etc. Additionally, they allow controlling the data flow, emulating all signal lines (DTR, DSR, CTS, RTS, DCD, and RI) and customizing pinout. Virtual serial ports are common with Bluetooth and are the standard way of receiving data from Bluetooth-equipped GPS modules.

Virtual serial port emulation can be useful in case there is a lack of available physical serial ports or they do not meet the current requirements. For instance, virtual serial ports can share data between several applications from one GPS device connected to a serial port. Another option is to communicate with any other serial devices via internet or LAN as if they are locally connected to computer (serial over LAN/serial-over-Ethernet technology). Two computers or applications can communicate through an emulated serial port link. Virtual serial port emulators are available for many operating systems including MacOS, Linux, NetBSD and other Unix-like operating systems, and various mobile and desktop versions of Microsoft Windows.

See also[edit]

  • ITU-T/CCITT V.24 [de]
  • ITU-T/CCITT V.28 [de]

References[edit]

  1. ^Webopedia (2003-09-03). 'What is serial port? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer Dictionary'. Webopedia.com. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  2. ^'Serial Cable Connection Guide'. CISCO. 2006-08-01. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  3. ^'RS232 - DTE and DCE connectors'. Lantronix. 2006-03-29. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  4. ^Yost Serial Device Wiring Standard
  5. ^Ögren, Joakim. 'Serial (PC 9)'.
  6. ^ abCyclom-Y Installation Manual, page 38, retrieved on 29 November 2008[permanent dead link]
  7. ^'RJ-45 8-Pin to Modem (ALTPIN option)'. Digiftp.digi.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  8. ^National Instruments Serial Quick Reference Guide, February 2007
  9. ^'RJ-45 10-Pin Plug to DB-25 Modem Cable'. Digiftp.digi.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  10. ^Hardware Book RS-232D
  11. ^RS-232D EIA/TIA-561 RJ45 Pinout
  12. ^'OptiPlex XE Powered Serial Port Configuration'(PDF).
  13. ^'Powered Serial Cards - Brainboxes'.
  14. ^'HOWTO: Specify Serial Ports Larger than COM9'. Microsoft support. Retrieved 2013-10-26.
  15. ^'Paul's 8051 Code Library, IDE Hard Drive Interface'. Pjrc.com. 2005-02-24. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  16. ^'IDE Hard Disk experiments'. Hem.passagen.se. 2004-02-15. Archived from the original on 2004-04-15. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  17. ^'The Solution for Seagate 7200.11 HDDs - Hard Drive and Removable Media issues - MSFN Forum'. Msfn.org. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  18. ^'Fixing a Seagate 7200.11 Hard Drive'. Sites.google.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  19. ^Serial Port Driver Interfaces; MSDN Microsoft.
  20. ^'DCB Structure'. MSDN. Microsoft. Retrieved 2011-03-15.

Further reading[edit]

  • Serial Port Complete: COM Ports, USB Virtual COM Ports, and Ports for Embedded Systems; 2nd Edition; Jan Axelson; Lakeview Research; 380 pages; 2007; ISBN978-1-931-44806-2.

External links[edit]

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Programming:Serial Data Communications
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