Q: Why can't I read / write the com ports.

 A: Com port 
programming (most often writing telecommunication
programs) is much much more complicated than simply trying to 
use
  write (com, whatever);
  read  (com, whatever);
This is a very advanced subject (frankly, beyond me), and the 
best
way to learn is to try to obtain some code to show you how. One
place to look at is Turbo Pascal text-books (I have a long list of
them at garbo.uwasa.fi archives in my collection of Turbo Pascal
units ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/ts/tsfaqp3470.zip. There also is an
example by David Rind in ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/pd2/faquote.zip.
Another source is International FidoNet pascal conference at 
some
bulletin board near you. The conference has had some very good
discussions in it. (No, I don't have them stored for distribution,
nor any further information.) Some files you might wish to look at:
ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/turbopas/comm_tp5.zip and comtty30.zip.

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