luars232 for COM10-255

["David Collier" <myshkin@...>]

This is really for Ynezz, but others may be interested.

I found that luars232 didn't support com ports above COM9.

I'm trying to production test a whole batch of 50 boards which include a
USB to RS485 interface, and each USB<->RS232 chip I connect to my windoze
test rig naturally occupies the next COM address nothing has ever used.

I know the windows procedure for dragging that back to a fixed COM number,
but lovely as Windoze is, I find the port isn't usable on its new address
until I've rebooted, which is a huge overhead.

I thought of making the 'COM27' value a parameter to my program, but then
I find that the luars232 library only deals with up to COM9

Now I've found this page on the web which indicates that if someone
recompiles something using VC++, the limit can be removed, but truly I
don't understand what is being discussed and I don't have a copy of VC++.

http://ccgi.dougrice.plus.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Serial-Lua

So could anyone please tell me:

O Off topic - I'm running XP - does anyone happen to know if you can
renumber a COM port on any later Windoze and have it keep working without
a reboot? I could upgrade my OS if it overcame the issue.

O Can the luars232 and underlying DLL be updated "for everyone" or does
it have to be fixed user by user.

O If I've got to do it, could someone please set out the steps involved
one by one?

O How much does a copy of ruddy VC++ cost me?

Thanks for any suggestions

David