From: muta...@gmail.com   
      
   On Tuesday, August 2, 2022 at 9:40:46 PM UTC+8, JJ wrote:   
   > On Mon, 1 Aug 2022 15:15:27 -0700 (PDT), muta...@gmail.com wrote:   
   > > This could be a double post.   
   > >   
   > > Bochs could be designed to point a com port   
   > > To a host file.   
   > >   
   > > The pdos application could do fopen of com1 r+b   
   > >   
   > > Pdos will dutifully translate that into reads and writes of the com port.   
   > >   
   > > If the app does an fseek to an earlier position   
   > > an initialization of the com port could be   
   > > done which Bochs interprets as a rewind.   
   > >   
   > > Pdos would then do reads to get to the right position.   
   > >   
   > > Tape drives may behave similarly.   
   > >   
   > > Is there some principle here?   
   > >   
   > > It won't work if the com port is connected to another computer though.   
   > >   
   > > Although maybe if dtr/dcd were manipulated it could.   
   > According to Bochs documentation (bochsrc.html), when a serial port is   
   > configured as file mode, the specified file can only work as an output. It   
   > can not work as an input (i.e. as a data source).   
   >   
   > For both output and input, only raw, socket, and pipe modes should be used.   
   >   
   > Also, serial port is not a seekable device. It's just a generic   
   > communication device with no data-size related protocol. Thus, there is   
   > concept of data position. There's no way to seek to specific data position,   
   > or do a rewind. Such functionality/feature is for application level   
   > implementation instead of hardware level implementation.   
      
   You just described what currently happens.   
      
   I just described what could happen, including the ability to seek.   
      
   Is there a reason why my proposal wouldn't work?   
      
   Assuming my proposal would work,   
   does it provide a new conceptual model   
   for accessing external files?   
      
   Perhaps the simplest form of networking?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)