VOGONS


First post, by dukeofurl

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I recently got a null modem cable and found it to be pretty straightforward to network my two old 90s pcs together for various serial/null modem multiplayer games such as Doom, Quake, DN3D and Death Rally.

I was checking out my daily-driver "modern" pc (which is actually from 2012), and discovered it has a typical RS232 serial port on the back as well, so I tried unsuccessfully with doing a serial-link game of Death Rally between dosbox on my modern pc and one of my old pcs using the null modem cable...

Everything should be good on the old pc's end, as I can run serial connection multiplayer between it and another old pc just fine with the same cable.

For the modern PC:
-I went into the bios to ensure the serial port is activated and switched it to the matching com settings for the old pc I'm connected to (in this case, com2 2F8).
-I went into Windows 11 and changed its settings in the Device Manager, to ensure the serial port was active and matched the same settings I have it to in the bios.
-I went into the Dosbox config file and changed serial1 from "dummy" to "serial1=directserial realport:com2" so that it would utilize the serial port
-I've ensured that the game settings on both machines are set to com2

But when I try to start a game between dosbox on the modern pc and the old pc, they do not connect, and I get the following errors in the log window.

"Serial1: Errors: Framing 3, Parity 0, Overrun RX:12 (IF0:0), TX:0, Break 0
Serial1: Errors: Framing 4, Parity 0, Overrun RX:16 (IF0:0), TX:0, Break 0
Serial1: Errors: Framing 3, Parity 0, Overrun RX:12 (IF0:0), TX:0, Break 0
Serial1: Errors: Framing 4, Parity 0, Overrun RX:16 (IF0:0), TX:0, Break 0
Serial1: Errors: Framing 4, Parity 0, Overrun RX:16 (IF0:0), TX:0, Break 0
Serial1: Errors: Framing 4, Parity 0, Overrun RX:16 (IF0:0), TX:0, Break 0"
(it continues along these lines every couple seconds)

I'm a network novice and I don't know what this means. I've got the cable physically connected, it is configured with the same matching com settings between the pcs, and I think I've appropriately pointed dosbox to it in the config file. What else is there to adjust?

Reply 1 of 2, by jmarsh

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dukeofurl wrote on 2024-10-25, 00:37:

-I went into the Dosbox config file and changed serial1 from "dummy" to "serial1=directserial realport:com2" so that it would utilize the serial port
-I've ensured that the game settings on both machines are set to com2

serial1 = virtual com1, but you've told the games to use com2.

Reply 2 of 2, by dukeofurl

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jmarsh wrote on 2024-10-25, 04:33:
dukeofurl wrote on 2024-10-25, 00:37:

-I went into the Dosbox config file and changed serial1 from "dummy" to "serial1=directserial realport:com2" so that it would utilize the serial port
-I've ensured that the game settings on both machines are set to com2

serial1 = virtual com1, but you've told the games to use com2.

Heh, I thought serial1,2,3,4 might refer to physical serial ports on my motherboard. But anyways, I put my setting in for serial2 and everything works now. Dosbox to old PC serial games are a go.
Thanks!