Have a look at directserial_posix.cpp - depending on how similar the serial port stuff is for linux and mac you might get it working on mac without much effort.

Maybe you already have all the bits and pieces on your Mac to do what you want InstantWare.

If you define a service using inetd (if it is still called that these days - check if you have an /etc/inet/inetd.conf file) using port 1234 and implement the service by starting cu (with what parameters, phone-numbers, etc that is needed), then you should be half-ways there.

Many thanks for your response!

With Mac OS X 10.4, I can use xinetd which is an extended inetd, in that the parameters reside in separate configuration files, but it is basically the same.

I am somewhat familiar with this, because I set up a CVS server and customised finger daemons, by using the xinetd mechanism. So, I can follow you to the point, how to install any daemon which is listening on any port by the way of xinetd.

1Rolf$ man cu
2No manual entry for cu

However, you left me behind on the question, what tool, that comes included with Mac OS X, might act as a proxy between the virtual modem of DOSBox and the internal hardware modem.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Best regards

Rolf

See if you have tip instead of cu.

You can also try searching for that cu program - just because there is no manual page, doesn't mean the program can't be there:

$ find / -name cu -ls

Many thanks for your response. I got it to work with directserial_posix.cpp. Mac OS X is AFAIK fully POSIX compliant.

Here comes what I did:

1. installed libsdl and libsdl_net by the way of MacPorts
2. checked out the dosbox source from CVS
3. included in the darwin section of configure.in @ line 407

1AC_DEFINE(C_DIRECTSERIAL, 1, [ Define to 1 if you want serial passthrough support (Win32, Posix and OS/2).])

4. edited directserial_posix.h @ line 28

1#if defined(LINUX) || defined(MACOSX)

5. edited directserial_posix.cpp @ line 26

1#if defined(LINUX) || defined(MACOSX)

6. at the commandline:

1   cd dosbox
2   export CXXFLAG=-O3
3   ./autogen.sh
4   ./configure
5   ./make
6   cd src

7. edited DOSBox Preferences

[serial]
serial1=directserial realport:cu.modem

8. started DOSBox from the command line

1PBRJ:/Developer/DOSBox/dosbox/src Rolf$ dosbox
2CONFIG:Loading primary settings from config file /Users/Rolf/Library/Preferences/DOSBox Preferences
3MIDI:Opened device:coreaudio
4Serial1: Opening /dev/cu.modem

In DOSBOX I started the connection tool and it simply recognized the modem.

Voila!

Problem Solved!

Thank you so much for your help.

Best regards

Rolf

Thank you for your reply.

Tip is also not present. However, in the meantime I resolved the problem by recompiling dosbox with directserial_posix support as was suggested by h-a-l-9000.

That means, that there is no need for external proxy daemons for
making the internal modem of my PowerBook G4 work with DOSBox.

Best regards

Rolf

Nice!! So perhaps that direct_serial stuff is safe to update with support with MacOSX.

I am more than satisfied, not to say I am enthusiastic about the solution - it simply works.

BTW: Appearantly because I compiled dosbox now by myself by setting CXXFLAG=-O3, I experienced a performance boost of apprx. 25 % at my PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz compared to the DOSBox binary which is officially supplied.

It runs seemlessly at 10000 cycles while I could use DOSBox from the binary download only @ 7500 cycles.

So, for today, I am fine with everything.

Best regards

Rolf