Just a quick note for an interesting project I recently discovered :
The com0com project enables you to create pairs of virtual ports connected with each other. What is so great with that ?
You still have a lot of tools that use com ports to communicate (industrial hardware, old software, gps chips, etc.). It enables you to emulate this software or to make them communicate with “something else” as you wish.
You can build remotly connected serial port or serial hardware emulators (an emulator for a GPS chip for instance).
And the good news is that it works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7 (and their respective 64 bits editions). I know Windows 7 isn’t in the official list. But I tested it with it and it works fine. On the x64 edition of Vista or Windows 7, you have to to use the Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider to install the unsigned com0com driver.