Jay, Couple of points that may help you.
1) A serial port does not have data ports 0-n. A serial port takes a byte (8 bits), then shifts them down a single pipe using a chip called a UART (feel free to google for unfamiliar terms). example Bit pattern 1010 1010 would be shifted one bit at a time 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 a one is +5 volts on single send line of the UART and 0 is 0 volts. RS232 uses a different mapping for 1's and 0's (but is still serial) 1 - ~-3V - -12 V 0 0-12 V So you slap a chip on between the UART and the RS232 pin (usually a MAX232) that translates the voltages for you. On the other end of the wire 232 socket MAC232 UART (usually built into the microcontroller) Register in Microcontroller I like playing at this level. I would recommend using AVR microcontroller (easiest to program and there is an open source gcc compiler). for $20.00 US you can buy the butterfly eval board with: - microcontroller - max232 all wired up for rs232 connection from your computer - lcd display - temperature sensor - light sensor - the avr mega169 has many goodies - analog - digital converter - digital -> analog converter - LCD controller This is a great bargin. If you are starting out in microcontrollers. I would suggest that you go to: http://smileymicros.com/ They sell a nice package for $90.00 - butterfly eval board - great, easy to follow book on how to develop on microcontrollers for the beginer. - project kit - includes everything you need to build all of the projects (even includes the wire ;-) There are python libs that support Ateml Avr connections: It is easy to use your rs232 serial with a microcontroller at the other end of the wire. Microcontrollers are cheap. If you fry why is connected to your devices, you are only out the microcontroller. Have fun, Mike [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I want to write to the pins of an RS232 without using the serial > protocol. The use would be every pin could act to complete a circuit > in customized hardware. I could use python to communicate serially to > a BASIC stamp or a Javelin stamp and then use the stamp to set however > many pins as 0's or 1's but should it be that hard to do with python. > I've looked through how python does serial with the "serial" module but > it just uses Java's javax.comm libraries. Is there anyway to do very > low level device writing to COM ports? > > In summary I'm looking for something like: > ser = serial.Serial(0) > ser.pin0 = 1 > ser.pin1 = 1 > ser.pin2 = 1 > .... > > > or > ser.write('0xFF') > which would set 8 pins on the RS232 cable to 1's > -- The greatest performance improvement occurs on the transition of from the non-working state to the working state. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list