I thought I had read, though, that some new-generation laptops do not have
an LPT port.
73, Pete N4ZR
At 04:15 PM 3/9/2005, R. Kevin Stover wrote:
>Jim Lux wrote:
>
> > The real problem with using the printer port these days is that
> > a) You're pretty well insulated from the hardware using Windows, so you
> > have to do all sorts of workarounds to talk to the bits. You can set up a
> > plain printer, and talk to it as if it were a dumb printer, but you don't
> > have any control over strobing, timing, or the ability to readback the
> > port. Yes, there are a raft of programs and windows drivers that get
> > around this, but since they violate a fundamental part of the design of
> > Windows (i.e. insulate user programs from the hardware), they tend to be
> > "picky" in their functioning.
> >
>
>Agreed. Alas, MS decided a long time ago that their operating systems
>should be designed with "Mom and Pop" in mind rather than power users
>and developers.
>
>
> > b) More and more computers are doing away with the printer port. It's
> > physically a large connector, consumes board space, etc. and most
> consumer
> > (read inexpensive) printers are USB using the PC as a computational host
> > for a lot of the printer function anyway. When you're selling millions of
> > motherboards at $50 each, wholesale, getting rid of a 50 cent connector is
> > very attractive.
>
>I haven't seen a mobo manufacturer come out with a product without a
>IEEE 1284 port yet.They won't be getting rid of the parallel port
>anytime soon. They are starting to cut out the RS-232 ports.
>Yes, you see a lot of mobos from the manufacturers with multiple USB
>port configurations, the machine I just built has 8, but the current USB
>spec has some serious limitations. The 5m segment length limitation
>being the most notable.
>
>
>
>--
>R. Kevin Stover ACØH
>
>K2/100 #4684
>
>Reclaim Your Inbox!
>http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
>Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with
>any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
>_______________________________________________
>TowerTalk mailing list
>TowerTalk@contesting.com
>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|