chat on assembly using serial port

Question

I'm working on a chat using assembly and i got this huge doubt, I'm currently using

int 21, AH= 0Ah

to get a string from the keyboard wich I will later send, char by char, through the serial port, but then i was wondering how, will I receive a msg from the other computer running the same program if this one is in a interruption waiting for me to input a string.

How can i get around the fact that when inputing a string, the whole program is interrupted and anything being sent on the mean time will be lost?

Answer 1

Use function 6 with DL = 0FFh.

It will return immediately either with data or without. It won't wait for keyboard input.