Hey guys..
In anticipation for getting the PCB done for the external VFD, I'm going to start looking at making a simple interface to send basic data to it via the serial port.. However, having never used the seial port before, I have a few questions...

1. I notice that some items, like Hijack occasionally, Emphatic (when menus are entered/left) and sometimes the player binary.. What will happen to these if my program 'grabs' the serial port? Will those messages still be sent out? Will those programs halt until they CAN write to the port? Will my program even be allowed to write since Hijack (at least) has already 'grabbed' the port?

2. Anyone point me to either libraries, or man pages on functrions/such to use the serial port? (Well, I should say 'open and set' the serial port.. I figure that once it's opened, you got a standard file handle.. Tho I could be wrong..)


Thanks!
Me.