#SERIAL PORT SERIAL#
#SERIAL PORT SOFTWARE#
#SERIAL PORT WINDOWS#

As previously mentioned, we will be connecting to COM3 so use that value here. Port Path: The вЂњHost DeviceвЂќ port mode field uses the physical device port number on the physical host.Port Mode: This parameter needs to be set to вЂњHost DeviceвЂќ so we can connect a virtual port to a physical one.Remember, this does not refer to the machineвЂ™s physical ports. We want to map it to /dev/ttyS0, so COM1 should be selected. Port Number: This field refers to the port number of the guest operating system.This needs to be done before any other settings can be changed.

#SERIAL PORT SERIAL#

On the Porto Tab select the Enable Serial Port checkbox.

We will be ignoring the IRQ, IO PORT, and Create Pipe fields. When you first open the serial port configuration dialog box on the virtual machine, you will be presented with the Porto tab. This is easy to do if you are aware of what to ignore when in VirtualBoxвЂ™s serial port configuration dialog. Now we have to configure VirtualBox to connect serial port of the guest operating system to the hostвЂ™s physical COM port. I chose to use COM3 to avoid confusion, but any port can be accessed by using this method. The project requires that I attain access to COM3 from the Kubuntu guest installed under a VirtualBox virtual machine.

#SERIAL PORT WINDOWS#

My computer has four serial ports which Windows defines as COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4. Interrupt Request (IRQ) |В COM 4 |В /dev/ttyS3 |В 2E8 | 3 Name Under Linux |В COM 2 |В /dev/ttyS1 | 2F8 | 3 Name Under Windows |В COM 1 |В /dev/ttyS0 | 3F8| 4 COM2 will equate to /dev/ttyS1 and the pattern will be maintained for all of the serial ports I use. To avoid confusion over which port I am talking about, I will use COM1 on Windows and /dev/ttyS0 on Linux to map these names to the same IO ports and IRQs. The example I will be discussing involves both operating systems. Linux uses a format of /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, and so on. On a Windows machine, the ports are named COM1, COM2, etcetera. Windows and Linux use very different naming conventions to identify serial ports. ThatвЂ™s the reason for this post, but before proceeding, letвЂ™s talk a little about serial ports. You can use serial port VirtualBox guideВ , but it also can be tricky.

The only drawback is that there are multiple ways to accomplish this, which can be confusing. VirtualBox is an easy-to-configure solution that enables the guest to access the serial port. To perform debugging, access to the hostвЂ™s serial port is required.

To get around this issue, I installed Kubuntu as a guest OS on my Windows host machine. All the extra cables result in a tangled mess and I really like to leave the space open for other equipment like oscilloscopes that I need to complete my work. This can be a problem as there are two reasons why I dislike having multiple computers running at the same time in my workspace.

My main operating system is Windows XP, but many projects I am involved in require me to use Linux. This is true no matter what operating system I am using and whether it is on a physical or virtual platform.

#SERIAL PORT SOFTWARE#

Serial port access is critically important in my role as an embedded software engineer.