Performing arbitrary I/O with the 41CL serial port

[mfleming]

Hi all,

I have an application for the 41CL serial port wherein I need to send and receive arbitrary newline-terminated strings. I currently have the 41CL Extreme and PowerCL Extreme modules installed, along with AMC OS/X.

I see there are functions to get and put bytes to a memory buffer, but the get command does not leave the serial character in the X register for comparison with a newline. Likewise there seems to be no way to send a character whose ASCII value is in the X register. But the character at a time approach would be problematic at high baud rates anyway, so maybe another approach?

I could use the YIMP/YEXP commands to transfer a block of characters instead. However, it seems that getting access to the data in the buffer is limited to the YPEEK function which doesn't leave the word in the X register either. Having to decode a hex string in the Alpha register seems an awfully roundabout way to get at the serial data. Is there no other means for a program to use the serial port without resorting to MCODE?

For the curious, the application is a circuit I've breadboarded with a Maxim chip to handle the RS232 interface and an Arduino pro mini to talk to. The Arduino in turn reads and decodes the data from a GPS module, then sends data like longitude & latitude in response to commands sent via RS232. Everything checks out using a USB to RS232 cable, but how to get the 41CL to communicate? It seems the serial port was envisioned for memory block transfers rather than general use.

What, oh what, have I missed! Anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks!
~Mark