How do I talk to a COM port under Windows9x/NT/2000 using Delphi?

you should download some of them and study the sources.the one i posted and the one zif posted comes with sources so you can see how they do it.
basicaly they are using the
createfile,readfile etc api's..
example:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
 var
   CommPort : string;
   hCommFile : THandle;
   ModemStat : DWord;
 begin
   CommPort := 'COM2';

  {Open the comm port}
   hCommFile := CreateFile(PChar(CommPort),
                           GENERIC_READ,
                           0,
                           nil,
                           OPEN_EXISTING,
                           FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
                           0);
   if hCommFile = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE then
   begin
     ShowMessage('Unable to open '+ CommPort);
     exit;
   end;

  {Get the Modem Status}
   if GetCommModemStatus(hCommFile, ModemStat) <> false then begin
     if ModemStat and MS_CTS_ON <> 0 then
       ShowMessage('The CTS (clear-to-send) is on.');
     if ModemStat and MS_DSR_ON <> 0 then
       ShowMessage('The DSR (data-set-ready) is on.');
     if ModemStat and MS_RING_ON <> 0then
       ShowMessage('The ring indicator is on.');
     if ModemStat and MS_RLSD_ON <> 0 then
       ShowMessage('The RLSD (receive-line-signal-detect) is
 on.');
 end;

  {Close the comm port}
   CloseHandle(hCommFile);
 end;

but it is so much simpler to use a component than do it all by code.
have you looked at any of them yet ?