(1) In DOSsystems, the name of a serialcommunicationsport. DOS supports four serial ports: COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4. However, most software uses system interrupts to access the serial ports, and there are only two IRQ lines reserved. This means that the four COM ports share the same two IRQ lines. Typically, COM1 and COM3 use IRQ4, while COM2 and COM4 use IRQ3. So in general, if you have two devices, one of which is attached to COM1 and the other to COM3, you cannot use them simultaneously.
Microsoft's COM site Encompasses information about COM-based technologies such as Distributed COM (DCOM), COM+, Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), and ActiveX controls. It includes tutorials, resources, whitepapers, and presentations.
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