thanks for all your replies.
iv decided to not use the DLP because it is causing too much headache. not to mention it is expensive.
instead i have opted to use a usb to serial converter lead from maplin and write serial data to it by again creating a virtual com port. the link below shows the usb to serial converter from maplin i am using
**broken link removed**
i have set up hyper terminal to have
1start bit
1stop bit
9600 baud
none flow control
i connect my usb2serial lead to the usb of the laptop, a virtual com is created, and i am able to connect to it in hyper terminal. now here is the problem..
i was told that to test that hyper terminal and the lead is ok, short the tx and rx pins of the serial side of the serial-usb cable(pin 2&3).
then type something into the hyperterminal window. this means what u type is sent from the pc, from the USB end of the usb-serial cable, to the serial end and appears at the rx pin of the serial end. because rx and tx are shorted, whatever appears on rx appears on tx, therefore, the same signal is sent back along the USB-serial cable, and recieved at hypeterminal. it is looped or "echoed" back, and the characters appear on the screen. this works. when i un-short these pins and i type on the screen, no characters come up, which is normal, because hyperterm isnt recieving any data, right?
now, i connected the serial end of the USB-serial cable(pins rx and tx), to a 9pin serial d-sub to its corresponding rx and tx pins. i am ONLY using the rx and tx pins because i am not using any hardware flow control.
when i connect them, iv noticed when i type on the hyperterminal, the characters come up!! why is this? i thought ok, maybe my soldering is bad and i have shorted these pins, which is why it is being echoed back, i checked, but nothing. i have not shorted them. how comes what i type into the keyboard is being echoed back and displayed on the screen? note this is only when i plug in the 9pin serial d-sub connecter to the serial end of the serial-usb cable. does any body know what it could be??
i wil try and include a picture to explain this better