0 a part of a computer to which wires from other pieces of equipment such as a printer can be connected, sending information eight bits (= units of information), or one byte, at a time through a special wire --
1 a place on a computer where you can connect printers, cameras, and other types of equipment that store data --
It connected to the computer via a parallel port.
However, the message is still present in many kernels, especially those with legacy parallel port device support, and continues to baffle users to this day.
Using a parallel port greatly reduced the complexity of the electronics in the printer.
Creating a parallel port in a computer system is relatively simple, requiring only a latch to copy data onto a data bus.
A wide variety of devices were eventually designed to operate on a parallel port.
Enterprising developers then standardized on use of two pins of the parallel port, to which users were expected to attach a speaker.
The laplink cable connects five output pins of a parallel port to five input pins on the opposing port, for each direction.
This used the status pins of the original port to form a 4-bit parallel port for sending arbitrary data back to the host.
