On 2006-01-21, Casey Bralla <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'd like to read ASCII data from a serial port, but (once > again) I'm having trouble getting started. (Can't seem to > find the basic level of docs to get going <sigh>) > > I'd like to use only standard "built-in" modules if possible.
Then there aren't going to be any "basic level docs" because it's just not an easy thing to do. You pretty much have to do exactly what you would do in C. So, for Linux/Unix, study up on http://www.easysw.com/~mike/serial/serial.html. Then do the exact same thing in python using the "os" module stuff that deals with file descriptors and termios. And you'll probably to use select to impliment a timeout when there's no data: http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.2/lib/os-fd-ops.html http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.2/lib/module-termios.html http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.2/lib/module-select.html For Win32, you'll have to do all of the nasty Win32 CreateFile() calls and such-like. IMO, It's even uglier than the Posix termios stuff (though not by much). For example, CreateFile() takes seven parameters, and none of them default to useful values (it's places like that where Win32's VMS heritage comes shining through in a manner that instead of illumnating anything temporarily blinds you and causes you to run into a tree). > Could somebody offer a simple code-snippet to get me started > reading from a serial port? Not using just the built-in modules. There is no such simple code-snippet. If you want simple use pyserial which handles all of the tricky bits for you: http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/ It's not a "built-in" module, but it's what you want to use unless you already know all the contortions require to do serial port stuff using Posix or Win32 system calls. Really. If you truly, madly, deeply want to use just built-in modules, then your best bet is to download pyserial and copy the appropriate platform-specific code. I'll be happy to answer questions about the Posix parts of it, but I had the portion of my brain containing Win32 knowledge cauterized. -- Grant Edwards grante Yow! I'm losing my at hair...did it go to visi.com ATLANTIC CITY?? -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
