[comp.lang.pascal] TP5.0 & serial port reading: HELP!

thurn@cis.ohio-state.edu (Martin Thurn) (03/17/89)

I would appreciate any and all help with the following.  Since I haven't seen 
it yet, I will post the definitive solution if (when?) I can solve it.  
Come on, Netlanders, show me your stuff!!

SHORT VERSION:

Are serial port interrupts and INT $14 the same for XT and AT?
How can I read the serial port in TP5.0 (with or w/o BIOS)?

LONG VERSION:

References: PC interrupt list (posted to the net Dec.1988 or so)
	    TP 4.0 manual, pp 360-380 (around there)
	    TurboPascal: the Complete Reference (I forgot the author)
hardware: Everex 1800 AT compatible
	  serial card (details unknown)
	  Interactive Systems 3100 touchscreen controller
software:
I'm using TP5.0 to read 2 serial ports.  I have the AuxInOut routines 
from the TP examples disk.  I wrote an interrupt procedure to handle the 
reading of the port, but control never gets to my interrupt procedure.  
I expected that whenever a character arrived at COM1, the machine would 
execute interrupt $0B, but my routine never gets called.  
As a further test, I made a loop to repeatedly (supposedly as fast as 
possible) check the status of COM1, and read the character if DataReady 
is set.  Fine, but when I call intr($14,regs) I get either timeout or 
overrun error every time, even at 1200baud.
ISI packages a BASIC utility program with the controller, which works fine 
(and makes me feel really stupid if I can't do it with a real language).  
They seem to just do an OPEN #1 and read it like a file.  Is this something 
I should think about doing in TP?  (I'll RTFM some more, maybe something 
will hit me).

---Martin Thurn             thurn@cis.ohio-state.edu
                   CISCNSLT.THURN@OSU-20.IRCC.OHIO-STATE.EDU