pld@au-bon-pain.jj.lcs.mit.edu (Peter DeWolf) (02/24/90)
I have a Mac II. I recently acquired a Prometheus internal modem. I wanted an internal modem for several reasons. Besides not wanting to contribute to the clutter of peripherals and cables surrounding my computer, I already have two serial devices (an Imagewriter II and a MacRecorder) and I figured that an internal modem would supply its own serial port. This was correct figuring. In fact, since I bought a modem with the optional extra serial port (expecting someday to get MIDI Interface or such), I now have 4 serial ports. The MacKnowledge communications software that came bundled with the modem recognizes this -- its configuration allows for a modem to be on the "Modem Port", the "Printer Port", or on COMM C or COMM D. Unfortunately, no other program seems to understand that I have more than the two standard serial ports. The Chooser assumes that my printer is on one of the standard Modem or Printer ports. SoundEdit (the software to use the MacRecorder) makes the same assumption. Well, I have my printer and audio digitizer hooked up to the standard ports, so this is OK, but it doesn't make me feel too sanguine about music software being able to find a MIDI Interface on COMM D! The first real problem I've encountered occurred when I tried running the America Online communications program, which requires the modem to be attached to one of the standard two ports. To the best of my knowledge, I can't do that. I assume that the system knows how many serial ports are available, and that this configuration information is dynamically set up at system initialization time for programs to use. I assume that well-maintained programs will gradually be updated to assume that more than two serial ports are possible on a Macintosh. But is there a way to deal with this problem in the meantime? What I'd like is a CDEV that would allow me to map the software concept of "Modem Port" or "Printer Port" to actual hardware serial ports. I could specify, for example, that accessing the "Modem Port" would actually use COMM C, thus allowing me to use the aforementioned deficient communications program. Has anybody heard of such a utility, or does anybody have any suggestions about what I can do? Thanks! Peter L. DeWolf Motorola Cambridge Research Center pld@mcrc.mot.com -or- pld@abp.lcs.mit.edu