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Search under VB for serial or for mscomm or com port.

All of this code shows the use of the MSComm control, which, like a lot of Microsoft stuff, is poorly documented. MSComm is the easiest way to talk to a serial port.

Second, yes, VB can display a lot of different data. The MSChart control can take real-time information and display it faster than it can come in via serial port. It can produce 3D or 2D real time graphs. You will need a decent PC, not a low end Pentium 60 like most colleges have.

MSDN has sample code for MSChart.

Some sample code also comes on the MSDN CDROM distibuted with VB.

Get Loren Eidal's 'Using Visual Basic 6', Platinum Edition. It covers almost anything you would need to know. From Que Press.