If I use one serial port it doesn't work unless it also uses software serial

[StefanL38]

@camsysca

Does your incoming stream have a definitive end-of-line marker, like a carriage return or linefeed?

That's what I thought when I read @camsysca posting.
Best thing would be if you have a start-marker and and end-marker.
With start/end-marker you can start reading at any byte even in the middle of a message.
Any truncated message will be read-out from the buffer and will be thrown away.

Then if the next message arrives and really starts with the constant start-marker correct receiving begins and ends if the end-marker is read.

There is a tutorial about that written by robin2

Serial Input Basics - updated

Updated Version Please note that this is a revised version of the advice in this earlier Thread which has become very long. As far as possible I have kept the code examples identical or simplifed them slightly. It should not be necessary to refer to the older Thread, but feel free to do so. Contents The following sections are in this Tutorial Introduction Serial data is slow by Arduino standards Example 1 - Receiving single characters Why code is organized into functions Exampl…

best regards Stefan