Serial Communications Overview (Windows CE 5.0)
The Serial Port Support feature for Microsoft® Windows® CE enables communications with other computers, printers, modems, or Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites by way of a serial connection.
Serial I/O is the simplest form of communication supported by Windows CE. It is used when a direct, one-to-one connection exists between two devices. Serial I/O can occur by way of various hardware connections; however, most devices use serial cables or a PC Card device, such as a modem or infrared (IR) transceiver. Exchanging data by way of a serial cable is similar to reading from or writing to a file.
The standard Windows-based desktop functions for serial communications can be used to open, close, and manipulate serial ports, transmit and receive data, and manage the connection.
Feature Summary
The following table shows operating system design information for Serial Communications.
| Element | Information |
|---|---|
| Dependencies | None |
| Hardware considerations | Serial port and/or IR port |
Modules and Components
The following table shows the components and modules that implement Serial Communications.
| Item | Module | Component |
|---|---|---|
| Serial Port Support | coredll | serdev |
Implementation Considerations
The following table shows the Sysgen variables that implement the Serial Port Support feature.
| Sysgen variable | Description |
|---|---|
| SYSGEN_SERDEV | When this variable is set, the Serial Port Support feature is included in the run-time image. |
Application Development Topics
IrCOMM Driver Registry Settings
Serial Communications Reference
See Also
Core OS Design Development | Core OS Application Development | Core OS Reference
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