Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Norman Albert on December 27, 2010, 07:33:30 PM

Title: New PC's and parallel ports
Post by: Norman Albert on December 27, 2010, 07:33:30 PM
Not Sure where to post this question but here goes. It's getting harder to fine a pc with the old printer 25 pin port. Most new printers only have a USB plug. Is there a work around for this problem? Also, newer mother boards have  the timing vary by a lot. The "specialdriver.bat" does not take care of this problem on the pc's I've tried in the past 2 weeks. The external timing devices are not exactly inexpensive. Norman Albert
Title: Re: New PC's and parallel ports
Post by: ger21 on December 27, 2010, 09:12:35 PM
PCI parallel port cards are about $20.

As for the timing, I've seen people running all kinds of new motherboards with no problems, even with quad core processors. There are a few bios settings you might want to disable. C1E, and EIST. Disable them both, if you're motherboard has them.
Title: Re: New PC's and parallel ports
Post by: zonian1903 on December 27, 2010, 10:01:22 PM
I just bought a new PC for my lathe conversion (to replace an old one I was using to get started) and put 2 PCI parallel port cards in ($16 bucks a piece) and everything works peachy.

Frank
Title: Re: New PC's and parallel ports
Post by: rbigelow1 on December 28, 2010, 03:11:26 PM
I just built a new PC for the shop machine and added a new printer card. My problem is that I can't identify it. Where do I get the name (address) for the card to activate it? I think I am mis-interpreting the guide from the Mach 3 manual. Also I ran the driver test and found that I get continuous short spikes on the visual part, yet the analysis says the system is excellent. Should I worry?

Thanks for all the help this forum offers. I don't often post questions 'cause the search usually finds my answers.

Thanks again for the knowledge and support you guys so freely give!!

RB
Title: Re: New PC's and parallel ports
Post by: Hood on December 28, 2010, 03:21:35 PM
You should find the address of the port in device manager, if you expand the Ports you should see your PCI port and you can double click it then look at the resources tab and you should see the address.
Failing that have a look this way
Start menu . All Programmes . Accessories , System Tools, System Information, Components, Ports then finally Parallel and you should then see the address of any ports you have installed.
Hood