Serial port sniffer?
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Does anybody know of a quick, free program that can watch what data is going in and out on a COM port? I have a device that we need to connect to a computer that doesn't have a serial port, so we'll use a USB-Serial adapter. The problem is that the program they use to communicate to the device is hardcoded to use COM1. I want to write my own application (that isn't hardcoded to COM1), but nobody has the specification for communication with the device. I was hoping I might be able to reverse engineer it by watching what goes over COM1 when connected to a computer with a serial port. Any suggestions?
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Does anybody know of a quick, free program that can watch what data is going in and out on a COM port? I have a device that we need to connect to a computer that doesn't have a serial port, so we'll use a USB-Serial adapter. The problem is that the program they use to communicate to the device is hardcoded to use COM1. I want to write my own application (that isn't hardcoded to COM1), but nobody has the specification for communication with the device. I was hoping I might be able to reverse engineer it by watching what goes over COM1 when connected to a computer with a serial port. Any suggestions?
PortMon should do the trick, though I have to admit it's tedious. I have a similar need, and it's the only tool I've found. Unfortunately, the display includes a bunch of fluff that can't be shut off. Scrolling manually through the output searching for query/response patterns takes forever, but it's doable if you have lots of patience.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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Does anybody know of a quick, free program that can watch what data is going in and out on a COM port? I have a device that we need to connect to a computer that doesn't have a serial port, so we'll use a USB-Serial adapter. The problem is that the program they use to communicate to the device is hardcoded to use COM1. I want to write my own application (that isn't hardcoded to COM1), but nobody has the specification for communication with the device. I was hoping I might be able to reverse engineer it by watching what goes over COM1 when connected to a computer with a serial port. Any suggestions?
There is Serial Line Sniffer[^] and then Packetyzer[^] I have used Packetyzer, but I'm not certain it will monitor COM port traffic; but I know COM sniffer will ...
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL -
Does anybody know of a quick, free program that can watch what data is going in and out on a COM port? I have a device that we need to connect to a computer that doesn't have a serial port, so we'll use a USB-Serial adapter. The problem is that the program they use to communicate to the device is hardcoded to use COM1. I want to write my own application (that isn't hardcoded to COM1), but nobody has the specification for communication with the device. I was hoping I might be able to reverse engineer it by watching what goes over COM1 when connected to a computer with a serial port. Any suggestions?
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Does anybody know of a quick, free program that can watch what data is going in and out on a COM port? I have a device that we need to connect to a computer that doesn't have a serial port, so we'll use a USB-Serial adapter. The problem is that the program they use to communicate to the device is hardcoded to use COM1. I want to write my own application (that isn't hardcoded to COM1), but nobody has the specification for communication with the device. I was hoping I might be able to reverse engineer it by watching what goes over COM1 when connected to a computer with a serial port. Any suggestions?
Another approach is to use a serial port breakout cable[^] or breakout box[^]. However, this is not a free option, but comes in handy if you have no control of the PC/device that is the serial master.
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Does anybody know of a quick, free program that can watch what data is going in and out on a COM port? I have a device that we need to connect to a computer that doesn't have a serial port, so we'll use a USB-Serial adapter. The problem is that the program they use to communicate to the device is hardcoded to use COM1. I want to write my own application (that isn't hardcoded to COM1), but nobody has the specification for communication with the device. I was hoping I might be able to reverse engineer it by watching what goes over COM1 when connected to a computer with a serial port. Any suggestions?
I've used PortMon[^] for something similar to that - debugging an embedded system's startup code when the only comms link was a serial line. It was a life saver - not only did it let me monitor code progress, but it also helped me determine the (undocumented...) serial port settings by monitoring the software loading process.
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PortMon should do the trick, though I have to admit it's tedious. I have a similar need, and it's the only tool I've found. Unfortunately, the display includes a bunch of fluff that can't be shut off. Scrolling manually through the output searching for query/response patterns takes forever, but it's doable if you have lots of patience.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
Roger Wright wrote:
PortMon should do the trick
Thanks, did the trick for me. That and some German documentation I found that I was able to extract some small nuggets from. For some reason our corporate IT people have decided to block using Google to translate web pages :mad:
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Another approach is to use a serial port breakout cable[^] or breakout box[^]. However, this is not a free option, but comes in handy if you have no control of the PC/device that is the serial master.
In the past I've made a three-ended cable and an adapter to connect a dumb terminal to view the communication between two serial devices.