Re: is any one sniffing comports on win2k or XP?

[KF <dotslash () snosoft com>]

Some one suggested this to me off the list... unfortunately it does not 
work on NT flavors.  It requires no hardware and its free. =] . I fired 
it up and set it to "attach" to COM1. I plugged in the barcode reader 
and then opened the software that sends the "init" to the device. Theres 
a nice play button on the software and it begins sniffing the data on 
the port.  In data is highlighted in red and out data in blue with a hex 
and ascii dump of both directions. This did the job nicely ... I was 
able to snag the data very easily. I was able  drop it into a small c 
program which will be used to avoid using a proprietary software to turn 
this device on.

This would definately be useful for sniffing sessions in other scenarios.

http://www.rtcomm.com/comlab32.html
-KF

yatima wrote:

> I am not altogether familiar with your predicament. But with a bit of
> elbow grease/common sence I am sure you can whip up a simple hardware
> splitter. then you can watch the datastream from both machine to device
> without conflicts/etc. I imagine the only difficult part (if not
> documented with the device) will be determining comm parameters (baud
> rate, etc). Another issue is getting the pinouts right (if the cable is
> fixed on the device it might cross (or not) pins within the cable that
> convert it from null to otherwise. You can trial/error this, or use a
> serial LED device (device with bi-color leds for each pin). Using the
> device you can test your splitter by putting it between the device and the
> computer (as normally connected) noting the led states. Using the LED
> states as a reference build a splitter to replicate the pin
> configuration. If the device isnt entirely  proprietary, you shouldnt have
> any problems intializing by replicating  the init sequences, however the
> possibility does exist that drivers/etc for the software has an abstract
> layer above the commport connection where the
> device itself may handshake with the machine. For ps/2 AT
> barcode/magstripe/etc devices this wouldnt be an issue, but with a serial
> device this is a possibility, and as such should be a consideration.
> Just an idea from a ranting neophy
> I am not an electrical engineer, nor do I have similar inclinations,
> Infact, I am made entirely of cheese.
>
> On Fri, 26 Jul 2002, KF wrote:
>
> > I have an application that I need to steal data from. This application
> > is initalizing a bar code reader and I would like to see the escape
> > sequences that are used to initialize this particular device. There are
> > bajillions of DOS apps that claim to spy on a com port but I have had no
> > luck with them. Every app I try to use results in a com port in use
> > error when I fire up the app I want to sniff. Does anyone have any
> > applications to try? I need one that will allow me to monitor a comport
> > passively in win2k or XP and it must at the same time allow another
> > application to query or connect to the com port. I need to be able to
> > see the data being passed back and forth between the application and the
> > device.
> > -KF