I am starting to use a Seeeduino GPRS shield (please see note), which is essentially an Arduino Leonardo that, among other things, can be used as a mobile 'phone for sending and receiving texts. I have successfully tried the "blink an led" and "fade an led" sketches, so the compiling and uploading are ok
I am using a desktop computer with Linux Fedora 20.
Now I want to go on to use the cell phone network to communicate with my mobile 'phone. However I am puzzled by something I assume everybody else understands already, and that is the references to "select either software serial port or hardware serial port to be connected to GPRS Shield". Please could someone explain what "software or hardware serial port" is, in simple terms, or point me to a web site that does so? Do I need any wired connection with my PC other than the USB link I use for uploading sketches?
Note: I bought a discounted GPRS shield labelled version 1.0a2. All the information on the 'net is of version 1.0 or 2.0 (with no "a2") and photos and diagrams do not correspond with what I have. I am awaiting official documentation, but meanwhile treating it as an Arduino Leonardo seems to be working.