IP->Com - v3.0.3 - Release notes - 8/01/2018 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IP->Com is a program to allow you to remotely connect to your com ports over an IP network, using any telnet client. This program is freeware and available at no cost to everyone. Note that IP->Com IS NOT public domain software. See the legal section for information and restrictions on it's distribution. Installation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IP->Com has been tested and runs correctly on Windows XP and above. To install IP->Com, run the downloaded executable with administrative privileges. Command-Line Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Append "/noauto" to the shortcut to disable loading of last saved configuration Uninstallation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To uninstall IP->Com, go to the Control Panel and select 'Add/Remove Programs'. From the resulting dialog box select IP->Com and click the 'Add/Remove...' button. The software will automatically be removed from your system. Known problems in this release ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- None. Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- v3.0.3 New website Build with VS2017 - XP and above only supported Use Crypto++ v5.6.5. v3.0.2 Fix Tcp No delay option not being saved to registry. Fix Tcp No delay option not being greyed out when COM port enabled. Upgrade Inno Setup to v5.5.8. v3.0.1 Fix deadlock when not using "Allow only 1st connection to Tx". Use VS2010. Use Crypto++ v5.6.3. Read from serial until no more bytes are remaining. Ensure RTS/CTS is honoured from TELNET Tx side. v3.0.0 Client connection mode. v2.5.24 Fix window not being hidden on startup if minimize at startup & minimize to tray specified. Stop window filling desktop if maximize at startup specified. Change tray "Maximize" to "Restore". Ensure any failures of COM creation will be seen by user. v2.5.23 Fix Delete key properly this time for password entry. Fix problem where Accept could silently fail. Implemented support for client connections in socket library, but it's not currently available to users due to GUI issues. Fixed saving of settings on logoff when minimized to tray. v2.5.22 Ensure settings are saved on forced logoff/shutdown. v2.5.21 Made changes to efficiently process at high data rates. Fixed bug wherby delete key would sometimes not work on password edit window. Fixed bug on multiple connections where password entry would fail while characters were received on another socket. v2.5.20 Added /SAFESEH to linker flags. Changed Web URL. Updated to latest Crypto++ library. Updated GUI. Show "all interfaces" instead of blank line. Fix Status bar text for "Minimize to tray" menu item. v2.5.19 Fixed hang when using hot pluggable serial ports such as USB-Serial adapters. If the adapter was removed while being enabled then IP-Com would hang on program shutdown or disable. v2.5.18 Buffer data when telnet client is blocked. Fix COM port transmit timeouts. Was sometimes timing out transmitting characters with some hardware. v2.5.17 Call to WaitCommEvent now adheres to Microsoft documentation. Removed extra loop when reading characters, as it wasn't needed. Increased COM receive buffer for very fast serial ports. v2.5.16 Changed icon light colour. Fixed Double Left clicking on tray icon will bring main window into view always if minimized. v2.5.15 Improved efficiency of tray icon animation code. Improved disabled tray icon, now 256 colours. Remove tray icon animation race condition on shutdown, can cause hanging. Double Left clicking on tray icon will bring main window into view always if minimized. v2.5.14 Tray icon is now animated for Rx/Tx/Disabled. Top right light is Tx of COM port to telnet client. v2.5.13 Removed Win2k balloon for tray icon. Updated About dialog box version number. v2.5.12 Added "Show log" to tray menu. Updated Help. v2.5.11 Added tray icon, and option on File menu to control minimization. Made "minimize to tray" and "prevent system standby" the default. Fixed email URL on about box. v2.5.10 Discovered problem when discovering COM ports from registry. Sometimes caused hidden exception on an unknown COM port due to invalid return code check. v2.5.9 Using the Application Compatibility Toolkit found that IP-Com should be opening "\\\\.\\COMx" instead of "COMx". v2.5.8 When using prevent system standby ability, check that the OS has this functionality by using LoadLibrary rather than looking at OS version. This enables the program to run on NT4 with Internet Explorer 4 installed. v2.5.7 Fixed crash due to bug in strip linefeed code. Added buffer security check to release build. v2.5.6 Fixed crash due to OnReceive() being called after port was closed. v2.5.5 When 'Allow multiple connections' is disabled, now don't close listening socket after a client connects. v2.5.4 Settings are now saved if logging off or shutting down MS-Windows. Please note that settings are only saved for a particular COM port if that COM port is enabled. Default settings for COM ports can be set in MS-Windows, using the Device Manager. v2.5.3 Port numbers now default to 1000 + COM number. v2.5.2 Changed accelerator key to view log to CTRL+Q. Use latest Inno Setup. v2.5.1 Increased security of hash by using random data. v2.5.0 Added password facility. Password is stored encrypted using SHA. Maximum password size is 32 characters. Timer on password entry stops automated attacks. code is now UNICODE compatible. v2.4.3 All strings now loaded from resource. v2.4.2 Fixed memory leak on exception, when running low on memory. Fixed about box text on email address. v2.4.1 Added Help. Fixed possible problem with timeout timer for detection of telnet clients. MS Windows 95 no longer supported. v2.4.0 Removed need for a thread per remote client. Now only one socket server thread. v2.3.1 Fixed major buffer overrun bug when in telnet mode. v2.3.0 Removed use of CAsyncSocket over multiple threads. The CAsyncSocket class is broken when used by more than one thread. Now using a thread that is triggered to read the socket. v2.2.2 Logging improvements. v2.2.1 Support Reception of Are You There telnet commands; respond with "YES". Fixed logging of multiple telnet client disconnections. v2.2.0 Optional support for telnet protocol from clients. Telnet protocol characters will be stripped before being sent to the COM port. If not selected then IP->Com will operate in RAW mode. Allow IP->Com to inform telnet client whether equipment connected to the COM port will echo received characters. Support for optionally stripping line feeds received from n/w client. Support telnet 'are you there' command to detect crashed telnet clients. Timeout set to 2 minutes of inactivity. Added current time to log items. Added horizontal scroll bar support to connection log dialog box. v2.1.9 Enable keep alive on sockets. If client crashes, then after some time (usually 2 hours), IP->Com will enable server socket again. Default address now blank, to signify all available i/f's. If listening on server socket fails, then delete socket etc. This can occur if an i/f is disabled after a client has connected. v2.1.8 Enable use of XP themes. Busy pointer when Enabling a connection. v2.1.7 If no ip address is entered (left blank) then all local interfaces are bound. v2.1.6 Fixed sharing of socket Rx buffer. Now using thread stack. v2.1.5 Fixed race conditions when connected socket was disconnected. v2.1.4 Added new "Prevent system standby" option under File menu. Prevents the PC entering the standby state when this program has connections enabled. Rx worker threads now set to THREAD_PRIORITY_BELOW_NORMAL priority. GUI must be able to always interrupt comms. v2.1.3 Finally got round to using CWinThread for connected socket. Should give better latency than previous implementation.. v2.1.2 Error handling tidy up. v2.1.1 Fixed lockup problem when closing program with large data throuput. only allow first telnet client setting now the default. Rx worker threads now set to THREAD_PRIORITY_ABOVE_NORMAL priority. v2.1.0 Added option to allow only first telnet client to Transmit to COM port. i.e. clients connecting after are read-only. v2.0.0 Allow multiple telnet clients to connect, optional per COM port. v1.4.0 Changed name to IP->Com. Should have done this a long time ago! Should remove any old version before installing from now on due to change. Use latest Inno Setup v3. v 1.3.8 Use of resource table for all strings. Better tool-tips implementation. v 1.3.7 Better port number validation. v 1.3.6 Tooltips for buttons/controls added. v 1.3.5 Storage of persistent data improved. v 1.3.4 Changed the icon (about time too!). Some port number validation. v 1.3.3 Running under NT would give COM1-COM32, ignoring the registry, now fixed. Fixed possible memory leak, under low memory conditions. v 1.3.2 Still wasn't picking out ports on internal modem cards. Therefore used regmon (Systems Internals) to discover what registry keys hyperterminal queries. Now decided that on WinNT and above IP->Comm will also read the hkey_local_machine\hardware\devicemap\serialcomm key for ports. This should now behave in the same way as Hyperterminal (or better). v 1.3.1 Registry key match relaxed even further! Now uses 'portname' key to identify COM ports. I wish Microsoft could have made this easier. v 1.3.0 On Windows 2000 and above, serial port expansion cards would not be detected due to different registry key to standard ports, search now relaxed (thanks to Johan Wallin for reporting this). v 1.2.9 Wait cursor now implemented when pressing disable button. Added hyperlink in About box. Installer now uses Inno Setup. v 1.2.8 Added Status bar which show the last log entry and help for menu items. Now uses the registry, instead of .INI file to store configuration, which means it now has per user settings. v 1.2.7 Fixed COM configuration bug, where if a bad configuration is selected, the configuration is now discarded. Installer program now has incremented product code. v 1.2.6 Tidied up dialog box layout. Better failure messages. Connection log modeless dialog added. v 1.2.5 Added ability to save current configuration, and load last saved configuration. Also added command-line option "/noauto" to disable automatically loading last saved session. Disabled ESCAPE key closing the program. v 1.2.0 Fixed memory leak when repeatedly accepting a new connection. On Windows 2000 and above, now detects COM ports available. v 1.1.0 Each Socker Receiver has it's own thread to stop GUI lockup, when handling large amounts of data. Can now enter host names into address box. Increased maximum number of COM ports to serve to 16. v 1.0.0 Initial version. Contacting Stephen Hill ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feel free to tell me what you think about this program. The vast majority of new features added with each release come from your suggestions. Or if you find a bug, please report it. Here's how to contact me: E-mail: mailto:steve.d.hill@ntlworld.com WWW: http://members.lycos.co.uk/ipcom/ Legal Section ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IP->Com is Copyright ©2002, Stephen Hill. All Rights Reserved. Stephen Hill retains all rights over all aspects of the IP->Com program. IP->Com is being released as Freeware. It may be used by individuals or companies at no cost as long as the software remains unmodified. Modification to the software, and any files included with it, without the written permission of Stephen Hill is strictly prohibited. IP->Com is NOT public domain software. It may not be resold for profit, or included in or with any other software without the written permission of Stephen Hill. The program code may not be decompiled, reverse engineered or reused for any reason. Because this program is being released for free, Stephen Hill cannot be held liable for any problems or damage this program may cause to your computer. Use it at your own risk. Acknowledgements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The free Crypto++ Library is used in this program.