>I then issue b=fget(a,'hi')

It is waiting for some characters toarrive at the port.

You can't really do practical comm I/O with FoxPro's low-level
file functions. If you have VFP, use the MSCOMM ocx. If you
have the LCK, using Win 95's FileOpen() doesn't look too bad.

If you are using DOS, get one of the several 3rd party comm
libraries. I use SilverFox, which is very good.

Good luck!

Dennis