Parallel Port Complete

Programming, Interfacing, and Using the PC's Parallel Printer Port

by Jan Axelson

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Now available in Chinese and Turkish.

Reviewers say...

The definitive handbook on unconventional uses of parallel ports. - Q & A, Electronics Now, September 1998.

If you need to do any development of parallel port devices or want to get a bit-level understanding of the port's inner workings, I strongly recommend Parallel Port Complete. - Bill Machrone, PC Week, July 20, 1998.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love it when an author picks a reasonably narrow topic and then covers that topic thoroughly....There's lots of good VB source code that could be ported to the language and operating system of your choice. I've never written a line of VB code and I had no problem following the examples....The book is written in a very readable style and starts off with the basics; you don't have to be a hardware guru to read it....if you think you might ever need to access a parallel port (under any operating system), this book is for you. In fact, I'm trying really hard to think of a reason why I need to make that digital thermometer described in Chapter 9.- Paula Tomlinson, Windows Developer's Journal, February 1998.

Finding out how the parallel port works and how to control it can prove difficult, even though parallel ports conform to the IEEE-1284 standard. Now, though, you can get just about everything you need to know in one highly useful book that covers the hardware and software considerations of using the parallel port....By the second chapter, the author is already discussing the ways you can access a port and control it....I like a quick start that gets me thinking about my own possible applications....Given the author's clear diagrams and explanations, it shouldn't take you long to wire and test a simple circuit that you can control through the parallel port with VB software....Even if you can't think of a parallel-port application right now, buy the book anyway. You may find that it inspired an idea to take advantage of a port that already exists on your PC. After all, the author has done most of the hardware and software work for you. - Jon Titus, Test & Measurement World, February 1998.

If you want to learn about PC-based parallel ports, then you need a copy of Jan Axelson's Parallel Port Complete. Good stuff. -Jeff Holtzman, Electronics Now, August 1997.

An excellent resource for Visual Basic programmers looking to interface hardware through standard ports. Anyone designing hardware to work with a parallel port is well advised to add this book to their library. - Paul G. Schreier, Personal Engineering, May 1997.

It's been awhile since I've seen a book so practical as this one. Parallel Port Complete is a real keeper! - Joseph Carr, Nuts & Volts, March 1997.

About the Book

Virtually every PC has a parallel port that serves as a printer interface. But you can use the parallel port for much more than this, including interfacing to control circuits, data-acquisition devices, and instrumentation. Parallel Port Complete is a complete guide to using and programming the PC's parallel port.

The topics include:

Basic reading and writing to the original Centronics-type port and PS/2-type bidirectional ports
How to use the new enhanced (EPP) and extended-capabilities (ECP) modes
What's in the IEEE-1284 standard for parallel ports
Port access in Visual Basic under Windows 3.x and Windows 95
Cable design for faster transmitting and longer links
How to be sure your program and interface will work with any port
PC-to-PC communications

With practical examples:

Simple and latched inputs and outputs
Expanding the number of inputs and outputs
Switching power to a load
Controlling a switch matrix
Measuring and controlling analog signals
Triggering periodic actions and events
Triggering on external events
Example circuits and programming for Compatibility, Nibble, Byte, EPP, and ECP modes

And Visual Basic program code:

DLLs to add Inp and Out for port access in Visual Basic
A form template and port-access routines to provide a quick start to your Visual Basic programs
Program code for the example circuits

Which versions of Visual Basic does the book support?

The book includes DLLs for reading and writing to ports in 16- and 32-bit programs. All of the example applications are provided in 16-bit VB3 and 32-bit VB4 versions. The VB3 applications will also load and run in 16-bit VB4, and the VB4 applications will load and run in 32-bit VB4 and VB5 and up.

Which operating systems can I use?

Most of the projects in the book use the inpout DLL provided on the book's disk. This DLL will work under Windows 95/98/Me (and a 16-bit version is provided for use under Windows 3.x). For use under all Windows editions from Win9x/Me to WinNT/2000/XP with no changes to application code, see inpout.dll from LOGIX4U. For Windows NT etc., a kernel mode device driver is embedded in the DLL in binary form.

More...

View the complete Table of Contents.

Read an excerpt from the Introduction.

Read Chapter 1 (PDF (Acrobat) file, 92k).

Price: $39.95
343 pages, 7" x 10", floppy disk included
ISBN# 0-9650819-1-5

List of corrections.

Disk contents. A zip file containing everything that's on the disk included with the book, in case you lost yours, or just want to see what's on it.