Parallel Port Card Query

[TonyBradley]

The parallel port on my motherboard is kaput, and I'm contemplating buying a PCI parallel port card to replace it.

Could I get advice on whether this will work, ie, allow me to run a printer from the add-on card? What sort of gotchas will I have to look out for?

TIA

[ferrari]

This is legacy hardware, so sourcing could be an issue. One method of approach that might work for you

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modinfo parport_pc

provides a list of vendor and product codes that are supported via this driver. From this info, you can search for the manufacturer with

http://www.pcidatabase.com/

Many of the cards associated with some of the chipsets are likely to be not in current production, but

For example, from

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alias:          pci:v00001409d00007268sv00001409sd00009018bc*sc*i*

I located this card
http://www.sunix.com.tw/product/par5008d.html

Another:
http://lavalink.com/products/pci-bus-io ... -port-epp/

[ferrari]

You may want to disable your damaged port in the BIOS as well (if possible). That way, only the good one will show up. Often, the parport_pc module must be loaded on boot, since parallel ports are not in common use any longer.