[comp.lang.fortran] Reading COM1 from FORTRAN

john@ghostwheel.unm.edu (John Prentice) (12/26/90)

In article <1222901430@opto>  writes:
>We are trying to capture an RS-232 data stream using 
>the serial port on a PC. The data appears at a fixed
>rate and no flow-control is available. I don't want 
>to make this harder than it has to be, but also don't
>want to underestimate the job. Has anyone slain this 
>dragon before? If so... any hard-learned lessons?
>

I tried something like this last summer in Fortran and finally gave
up.  Fortran really wants to see CR/LF record terminators on its
input.  I ended up writing a piece of C code to do it (this type
of i/o is one place C excells).  The closest I got to making it
work in Fortran was to declare a long character variable and read
into that.  However, you are limited by the length of this variable,
if it works at all.

Good luck!

John K. Prentice
Amparo Corporation
Albuquerque, NM
USA