Two machines may be connected for remote debugging. The connection may be made via a null modem cable connecting the serial ports on both machines, or via modem.
The connection is initiated by using the SETCOM command to initialize the serial port, then pressing Ctl-F9 on each system to attempt to connect. When a connection is established, the "Press M to become master" prompt appears. Only one of the two systems may become master; the other one then becomes the slave. Processing on the slave system then proceeds normally; the master system is now running a special terminal program.
Keystrokes typed in the master terminal program are sent to the remote system (with some exceptions - see below), and screen output from the remote 386SWAT system appears on the master terminal screen.
Ctl-Alt-Del will NOT be sent to the remote system while in the master terminal screen - it will reboot the master system. Thekeystroke Ctl-F9 invokes a menu of special options for the master system:
| T | Terminate connection with slave immediately. |
| G | Terminate connection, but have slave go instead of returning to the 386SWAT command prompt. |
| R | Terminate connection, have slave go, but have slave automatically attempt to re-establish connection on next invocation of 386SWAT. |
| B | Terminate connection and reboot slave system. |
| S | Suspend session temporarily. This temporarily exits the terminal program. You may exit 386SWAT. Ctl-F9 again resumes the connection. |
| U | Upload program to remote. |
| D | Download program from remote. |
| Esc | Continue with terminal program |
Other keys are Ctl-6 (interrupt remote) and Alt-F7 (send remote screen only to master). The keystroke Alt-F7 is useful for debugging when the remote system is in graphics mode or otherwise unable to access the CRT controller.