FATQW@USU.BITNET (01/19/88)
I think that you should still keep with the "unit 0=internal, unit 1=first
expansion serial port, etc." philosophy. However, it's a good point that
"modem" and "printer" means more to the user than "unit 0" and "unit 1".
Here's my idea.
First of all, if it wouldn't be too hard, and not too incompatible with old
expansion serial ports (if there are any), have Commodore create a specification
for expansion serial ports, which could be automatically recognized by a new
serial.device, which they also create. This new serial.device would be freely
redistributable, and manufacturers would probably want to stick it in along
with their expansion serial ports. That way, manufacturers would not need to
worry about creating serial port software, as long as they go by the
specification. The serial.device would automatically recognize it. It would
also get some information about the serial port directly from it (also defined
in this specification), which would say something like "Junky Electronics
Expansion Serial Port." This info would be presented to the user in a
Preferences screen, and he can select what's on the port, for example "modem",
"printer", "MIDI", "nothing", etc. Also, he may or may not choose to type in
a short description: "Avotix 1200 Modem", "HP LaserJet Minus", etc.
Now for the user programs. When a user program wants to find something (let's
say a terminal program wants a modem), it will first try to open the
serial.device using unit -1. This would be a special part of the serial
device which would tell user programs the info about all the serial ports on
the system. It would give the manufacturers description ("Junky
Electronics..."), what's connected ("modem", etc.), and the description the
user entered in Preferences, if any. If none, just use the "what's connected"
field for this purpose.
So, anyway, the user program finds that it CAN access serial.device unit -1,
so it sends a "Give me info" request. The serial.device returns all this info
to the user program. For this terminal program, it would look through the
info and see what modems there are. If there is only one, just use it. If
there are more than one, put up a requester saying, "These modems are
available..." and list the descriptions the user entered at Preferences.
The user enters which one he wants to use, the program finds the unit number
for that entry (also in the info), opens it, and lives happily ever after!
Bryan
Bryan Ford ///// A computer does what \\\\\
Snail: 1790 East 1400 North ///// you tell it to do, not \\\\\
Logan, UT 84321 \\\XX/// what you want it to do. \\\XX///
Email: USU@FATQW.BITNET \XXXX/ Murphy's Law Calender 1986 \XXXX/