Prior to USB the parallel port was the only interface on PCs that ran at a speed usable by anything that needed more bandwidth than a teletype. LapLink made a file transfer package that was featured here a few months ago that let you transfer files quickly using a special parallel port cable. I also had a Logitech hand scanner that connected via a parallel port and could do 300dpi mono scans over it.
I had a cheap second hand 386 laptop in the ‘90s and so was particularly interested in the parallel port because laptops didn’t have any kind of expansion bus back then (PCMCIA was a few years later, USB, FireWire and Thunderbolt were a long way off).
They were also handy for simple bit-bang interfaces that even a college student could build. The final assignment for my x86 ASM class was a bang-bang pump controller using separate pins for the motor and sensors. A recent closet cleanout turned up my hand-built SNES controller adapter from that same time period as well.
I used a D-Link parallel port Ethernet adaptor and supported dozens of them on client machines. I also had a parallel-port sound card – a Logitech AudioMan, I think – and a parallel-port QIC tape drive. I suspect I still have ’em all. The D-Link was supported in Pygmy Linux, too, so I could load Linux from the DOS prompt and files on my C: drive, and then have LAN and Internet access from Linux.
My screen happens to be exact size that when scrolling down, the background seems to be going the wrong way because there isn’t any smooth scrolling on my Firefox.
Prior to USB the parallel port was the only interface on PCs that ran at a speed usable by anything that needed more bandwidth than a teletype. LapLink made a file transfer package that was featured here a few months ago that let you transfer files quickly using a special parallel port cable. I also had a Logitech hand scanner that connected via a parallel port and could do 300dpi mono scans over it.
I had a cheap second hand 386 laptop in the ‘90s and so was particularly interested in the parallel port because laptops didn’t have any kind of expansion bus back then (PCMCIA was a few years later, USB, FireWire and Thunderbolt were a long way off).
They were also handy for simple bit-bang interfaces that even a college student could build. The final assignment for my x86 ASM class was a bang-bang pump controller using separate pins for the motor and sensors. A recent closet cleanout turned up my hand-built SNES controller adapter from that same time period as well.
Indeed so.
I used a D-Link parallel port Ethernet adaptor and supported dozens of them on client machines. I also had a parallel-port sound card – a Logitech AudioMan, I think – and a parallel-port QIC tape drive. I suspect I still have ’em all. The D-Link was supported in Pygmy Linux, too, so I could load Linux from the DOS prompt and files on my C: drive, and then have LAN and Internet access from Linux.
On a 386SX laptop with no slots of any kind.
My screen happens to be exact size that when scrolling down, the background seems to be going the wrong way because there isn’t any smooth scrolling on my Firefox.