Floppy/Parallel Ports

<In which case you're restricting it to PCs and clones only I would think. < <The PC printer port has 12 outputs and 5 inputs IIRC. But for a _printer_ <you really only need to have the 8 data lines, strobe and either ack or <busy. The others can normally be ignored. But non-printer PC parallel <port devices often use all 17 lines for whatever purpose (e.g. reading a <nybble in on 4 of the 5 inputs) The implmentationwas full centronics parallel. The extra inputs are PAPER OUT and a few other status indicators. <Before that, centronics ports tended to be the 36 pin amphenol connector. <But there were other printer port standards as well - like Data Products <that was used on some line printers. And of course serial printer ports <(RS232, current loop, etc). Commonly it was 34 or 40 pin card edge or the amphenol that we see on the back of the printer but 37 pin DB connectors were used as well. In the olden days there were two common and nearly similar parallel ports. Data Products (also used for DEC LP25/26/27) and Centronics. Allison