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Version 2.40 - updated 26 September 2023
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Historically, most RISC OS machines have at least one serial port, also
known as the RS-232 port or the COM-port. Some machines even
feature multiple serial ports. In addition, expansion cards with
additional ports or modems were available from various parties.
Each device generally has its own dedicated software interface (API),
which is often not supported by the average application.
➤ Download the latest release
In an attempt to create a uniform interface for each available serial
port, Hugo Fiennes created in the early 1990s the serial BlockDriver
specification. Since then, most existing applications have been using this
standard to allow flexible selection and configuration of any available
serial port.
In 2004, we took over support for the BlockDrivers from Hugo Fiennes,
and created this page to distribute all available drivers
freely. Note that for the current RISC OS hardware, drivers have
to 32-bit and ARMv7 compatible, which is not the case for all drivers.
Please read the notes below.
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Over the years a number of different expansion cards (podules) have
been designed by various companies. Below is a non-exhaustive list
of these interfaces.
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- SP_Dual - The Serial Port
This card, originally designed by Hugo Fiennes and later sold by Atomwide,
came in two flavours: as a 2-port and a 3-port
variant. Multiple cards can be used and the maximum number of
extra ports is 8 (numbered 0-7).
The device driver module has been converted by Tank and is available
from ➤ his website.
- IIDual - Intelligent Interfaces Dual Serial Card
This card is still available from Intelligent Interfaces in the UK
and consits of two high speed serial RS232 ports. Multiple cards
can be used and the maximum number of ports supported by the software
is 16 (0-15). A 26/32-bit neutral version of the BlockDrivers and
the device driver module have been made available by Intelligent
Interfaces and are included in the current release of the BlockDrivers.
- MultiPort
This is a dedicated card, developed by X-Ample Technology for some
special projects. It consist of two serial RS232 ports and one RS422
synchronous port. It is no longer available and has not been converted
to 32-bit.
- ModemCard
Although not exactly a serial card, it behaves like one. The card
reports itself as a standard RS232 interface to which a modem is
connected. Initially developed by Acorn, the card was available from a
number of dealers, including X-Ample Technology.
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26 Sep 2023 · 2.40
- New version of BlockDriver module (0.21).
- New version of !Serial monitoring application (0.30).
- New versions of SerialUSB (0.16) - compatible with updated !HearSay.
- Unwanted BlockDrivers can now be removed and re-installed (!Serial).
- BASIC example updated.
18 Jun 2020 · 2.30
- New version of BlockDriver module (0.17).
- New version of !Serial monitoring application (0.26).
- New versions of Internal32 and SerialUSB.
08 Nov 2019 · 2.21
- New version of BlockDriver module (0.15).
- New version of !Serial monitoring application (0.25).
- Now counts available ports correctly.
21 Dec 2017 · 2.20
- BlockDriver specification updated and published.
- New version of the BlockDriver module (0.11).
- BlockDriver SerialUSB added (0.01).
- Various fixes in !SerialDev driver scanning code.
- New version of !Serial monitoring program.
26 Apr 2017 · 2.10
- BlockDriver specification updated and published.
- ARMv7 issues fixed.
- Various new SWIs fixed.
- Setting data format via IOCtl fixed.
- Internal32 now support more than 2 ports.
- IYONIX serial port name issue fixed
- Vendor-neutral port descriptions added.
- Various other bugfixes.
10 Jul 2004
Release 2.02 of the BlockDrivers now available for download.
New icons added for all components as designed by Richard Hallas.
10 May 2004
A completely new Extended BlockDriver Specification has been
created, based on the original BlockDriver specification by Hugo
Fiennes. The new specification contains support for 26 and 32 bit
systems and serial ports that use a DeviceFS interface, rather than
the common SWI interface.
The !SerialDev application still holds the BlockDrivers in separate
directories as before, but some new features have been added:
- A BlockDriver support module has been included.
- Each BlockDriver directory may now contain a !Boot file (and additional files) that are executed when !SerialDev is launched (e.g. at boot-time).
- Support for bith IYONIX serial ports has been added.
- 26/32-bit neutral drivers for the
IIDual card have been added.
- A new Shareware application
!Serial has been added to allow monitoring of all serial ports.
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- Internal32
- SerialUSB
- Dummy
- PipeA
- PipeB
- Telnet
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- IIDual
- IIDualPC
- Internal
- InternalPC
- ModemCard
- MultiPort
- SP_Dual
- SP_DualPC
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A new BlockDriver has been added to support Colin Granville's
SerialUSB module. This driver offers support for USB-to-Serial
adapters with a CH340, CP210x, PL2303 or FTDI chipset.
Connected adapters can be addressed in the usual manner, by
their logical port number, but also by their physical port number
(i.e. their position in the USB tree) or by their serial number. 1
➤ Latest SerialUSB module
A new version of !ConfiX
is available, with full support for
SerialUSB devices through a simple user interface,
that interacts with the latest version of
!USBinfo, for selecting the desired adapter.
➤ Latest version of !ConfiX
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WARNING —
Please note that certain USB hubs may behave badly when connecting more
than one USB-Serial adapter. This is particularly the case with hubs
that use the Genesys Logic GL850x chipset (ID = 05e3:0608 or
05e3:0610). Avoid HUBs with this chipset if possible.
USBinfo
has been updated to flag a warning when products with these IDs are detected.
— HUBs with a Terminus Technology chipset are known to work fine.
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Only on devices with an internal serial number, such as FTDI.
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The latest release of the blockdrivers can be downloaded here.
This includes the !Serial monitoring application.
If you happen to have a blockdriver which is newer than the one
provided here, please send it to us so that we
can include it with the latest distribution.
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Below are some older releases of the blockdrivers. They are mainly
supplied here for reference only and may be useful if you want to
bring a very old machine back to life. They are not suitable for
the currently available hardware and are no longer supported.
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Any links shown in red are currently unavailable.
© X-Ample Technology BV.
Last changed: Wednesday, 27 September 2023 - 12:58 CET.
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