I've push a changeset and macintosh plugins onto the server, they should appear in a few days.
The SerialExtendedMacOS9Plugin.sit goes in the mac 3.5 noncarbon plugin location The SerialExtendedUnixPlugin.bundle goes in the mac 3.5 carbon plugin location {yes the name implies unix, but os-x is unix...} The EnhancedSerialPorts-JMM changeset which is the classes and plugin interface logic you need to file in.
I suspect usage will be limited but it enables you to do things with serial ports (and file handles, hint any file handle) that you can't do otherwise. I would think to compile this code on your favorite Linux box that would be a snap.
Only one platform specific primitive or method exists serialPortFindNamesPlusKeysstorage which on os-x invokes the IOServiceGetMatchingServices() call to get path names to devices that support the serial protocols. This primitive call a common Linux box could be replaced by smalltalk code to iterate over /dev or read some sort of control file etc to figure out the path names to the serial devices. For mac os-9 this functionality was already part of the VM. I'm hoping that no platform specific C code will be required for unix boxes. Alas windows users require someone to do the dirty work if you want windows specific serial calls? Or will unix emulation somewhere/how etc work? Couldn't speak for parallel ports, never even occurred to me to investigate till now.
I should point out that Dan Ingalls Dan@SqueakLand.org was kind enough to actually fund with real USA $ some of the work required to build this plugin, then willing to release it to the public. So enjoy, and thank Dan for motivating ($) me to write the code and for releasing it.
PS I won't pass up an opportunity to point out if you've an obscure macintosh specific feature you would like and like Dan have a bit of cash to pay for it, then we should talk.
-- ======================================================================== === John M. McIntosh johnmci@smalltalkconsulting.com 1-800-477-2659 Corporate Smalltalk Consulting Ltd. http://www.smalltalkconsulting.com ======================================================================== ===