Parallel port

In computing, a parallel port is an interface from a computer system where data is transferred in or out in parallel, that is, on more than one wire. A parallel port carries one bit on each wire thus multiplying the transfer rate obtainable over a single cable (contrast serial port). There are also several extra wires on the port that are used for control and status signals to indicate when data is ready to be sent or received, initiate a reset, indicate an error condition (such as paper out), and so forth. On many modern (2005) computers, the parallel port is omitted for cost savings, and is considered to be a legacy port.

Port addresses

Traditionally IBM PC systems have allocated their first two parallel ports according to the configuration in the table below.

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