Parallel Port Complete: Programming, Interfacing, & Using the PC's Parallel Printer Port (Paperback)

~ (Author) "A first step in exploring the parallel port is learning how to get the most from a port with your everyday applications and peripherals..." (more)
Key Phrases: timeout bit, used data bit, bidirectional data port, Visual Basic, End Sub Listing, End Sub Sub (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

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. -- Personal Engineering and Instrumentation News, Paul Schreier, May 1997

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

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

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

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. -- Windows Developer's Journal, Feb. 1998

Product Description

A guide to programming, interfacing, and using the personal computer's parallel printer port. Includes circuit designs and Visual-Basic code examples, plus tips on how to get the most out of the port, including the enhanced (EPP) and extended-capabilities (ECP) ports found on most new systems. Includes disk.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 343 pages
• Publisher: Lakeview Research; Pap/Dis edition (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965081915
• ISBN-13: 978-0965081917
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #513,562 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #93 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Graphic Design > Printing
  #100 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Hardware > Peripherals

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very thorough treatment of parallel port control from VB., August 24, 1998

By	Bruce Bergman (San Diego, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very good book for those interested in controlling the parallel port interface on the PC. The most common usage is for cheap/inexpensive data acquisition or control, but the book also covers "LapLink" type transfers, high speed printing and device chaining. In my opinion, this books greatest strength is that all of the code is provided in Visual Basic, Delphi and C. Visual Basic and Win95/WinNT cannot directly control the printer port, so the authors have made a library of routines for use with any language, thus filling a hole that exists in Visual Basic. Anyone who wants to directly control the parallel port from Visual Basic will find everything they need (both on disk and in instruction) in this book.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars e-book version is not worth buying, September 16, 2003

By	Jay Weaver (Sunset, Utah United States) - See all my reviews

Do not purchase the e-book version of this book.
The e-book version is over protected, Over priced and almost completely usless.
You Cannot print or copy and past the example code for use in your own programs. You do not get the Code disk with this either.
Neither can you copy the e-book to another computer or, as I was wanting, to a PDA. (The e-book is encripted)
Do Not waste your money on the e-book version of this book!
You will be better off with the Hard copy + Code disk.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very useful indeed, December 18, 2000

By	John Peter O'connor - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For many people involved in a project to connect something to a PC parallel port this book will be the only one needed. It contains detailed information about almost all aspects of parallel port interfacing for PC systems.

The author covers the port from the nitty gritty of designing and building custom hardware to connect to the parallel port to the higher level protocols such as the IEEE standard for daisy chain negotiation on the port.

The book covers all of the different modes of operation including ECP and EPP as well as the original parallel port and the PS/2 or bidirectional port.

As well as the descriptions of these aspects of the parallel port the book includes a disk with code to access and drive the port from Windows Visual Basic programs.

The book is aimed squarely at the PC & Windows world but it is applicable outside that environment. Many systems now include parallel ports that are register compatible with the PC parallel port from a programming point of view. More that that, the protocols that operate between the computer and the peripheral are standard and so something like the daisy chain protocol is relevant to any architecture that wants to use it.

My only criticism is the way in which some information is presented. It's not that anything is left out, but by way of an example, the IEEE standard document is a more readable description of the daisy chain protocol than this book.