well, about the each byte to it's own file, i'm sure it can all be done in one, now that i think about it. i'm not sure though, cause i don't know flash (that's dan's job).
as for the programs tripping over each other, i don't believe that will happen. to make sure flash could read a constantly updated file, i made a short program. an endless loop that counts from 1 - 100, then starts over at 0. it outputs that to a text file. dan then made a small flash movie that just outputed the 'update' in the file, out to the computer screen. flash wasn't quite as fast as C++, but it ran fine (from what i could tell). so, i believe that there shouldn't be a problem.
and i know this is probably the world's most inefficent dashboard program, but i'd like to think of it as a creative solution. neither dan or i know MFCs or windowed apps. something we haven't learned yet. so, we took our knowledge of console apps and flash, put it together, and hope something cool comes out.
also, thinking about the thread parts....
if the serial port is open, can i have file input/output open also? i know only one file can be opened at a time, but i'm not sure if the serial port counts as a file input/output stream.
last thing, can anyone think of any way to jump out of the endless loop besides 'ctrl + c'? the only problem with doing it that way is that it kinda might screw up the computer. grr, so many problems when computer science teachers don't teach you anything about putting C++ to work in the real world...