Simple Parallel (Printer) Port Interface

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This is the basic interface I used as part of my Computerized Room project. This is the parallel interface only. The 8 bit input card can be found, along with the rest of the project, at Computerize Your Room/House. This interface, as well as the other two interfaces, came from the book "The Robot Builders Bonanza", by Gordan McComb. This interface is also useful for controlling small robots, etc. It is cheap and fairly easy to build, although you should not attempt this project unless you have prior experience with electronics. You probably won't damage anything if you hook it up wrong, but there is always a chance (some parallel ports are better protected then others). If possible, test the project on someone else's, or a school computer :-)

Schematic

Parallel Port Pin Assignments

Parts

Part	Total Qty.	Description	Substitutions
U1, U2, U3	3	74LS367 Buffer IC	74367, 74HC367
MISC	1	Case, Wire, Sockests, 18 Pin Socket (For Output), 25 Pin Connector (For Parallel Port), Ribben Cable

Notes

I built the interface on a piece of universal solder board due to the large number of wires that must cross. It is also much easier to fix mistakes then on a PC board. I also used a 25 pin crimp connector to connect it to the parallel port. 26 conductor ribben cable was used to link the connector to the board.

This interface only offers 5 inputs (on some computers it may be less). For more inputs, see Computerize Your Room/House. If you choose to use the inputs, remember that the voltage level can not exceed 5 volts or fall below ground.

This circuit is TTL and therefor must be powered by no more then 5 volts.

You can download control software from my files section.

For more information on programming the parallel port, see Programming The Parallel Port In QBasic or Programming The Parallel Port In Visual Basic.

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Sultan Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Wednesday, October 19, 2011 5:59:27 AM

I have some difficulties for vb6 program for parallel port communication. can any one help me by send me the complete code + dll files. thankx

Mike Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Saturday, December 04, 2010 5:15:59 PM

For effective and simple control of parallel port, check out LibertyBASIC. Port driver for XP and above is included with distribution and there is an excellent and supportive user forum with a hardware interfacing thread. http://www.libertybasic.com

Karl Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Tuesday, November 17, 2009 4:13:37 PM

I'm exploring your site; it has great info. I built a small PCB with a ULN2003 chip driving reed relays to control my room lighting (dimmer) using the parallel port on my PC. It's simple and works quite well. I'd now like to add the ability to read the level of the dimmer and send this data to the PC. The dimmer has 4 LED's which I believe are 9VAC and are either on or off. I need to translate this to something that could be read by the parallel port and sent to an app on the PC. Any ideas?

Rob Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Thursday, September 10, 2009 9:44:08 PM

Verhy informative, Well done!

anonymous Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Sunday, June 28, 2009 2:44:22 PM

is it passable to do this same thing using the usb port instead of the Parallel Port I have been looking all over the internet trying to find a schematic diagram on this if you have any information please let me know thank you Jeremy

kurdi muhammad Using this circuit in Windows XP Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:34:24 AM

You can download this dll file ( Inpout32.dll ) from http://logix4u.net/ and control your Parallel port even under Windows XP. Note: In Windows 2000 and XP and later versions of windows, you can NOT use the PPort directly . You must use a kernel mode device driver to that.......Actually inpout32.dll does that for you easily.

anonymous Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Tuesday, March 03, 2009 7:16:47 AM

is it possible to use this interface to conect 2 computers for use with qbasic so that one way comuncation is possable

Black Hawk Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Saturday, February 21, 2009 10:33:47 AM

Dear Sir, by using any input, like 5v or getting 0v vich pins i can use to detect whether hardware is connected or not

Javad Ahamad K.V Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Friday, October 10, 2008 1:16:46 AM

I am very happy with your vb parallel port programming.it helped me a lot. i have a doubt? if we want to input data through status port by shorting it and ground how we can detect at the time of running? eg: i runned my program then when i set 88 form colour shoul be red,and if the value is 104 the form colour should be blue without exiting the program.what is the code for that? i tried like this, if vbinp(889)=88 then form1.backcolor=vbred elseif vbinp(889)=104 then form1.backcolor=vbblue end if this is working when it wrote under an event like click or keypress ect..... but i want to check continously without changing any event plz help me........

XerMeLL Parallel (Printer) Port Interface Tuesday, October 07, 2008 8:44:50 PM

Sir pls give me a kernel driver for WindowsXP, im trying to access parallel port interfacing with Assembly Language Program using A86 assembler.. pls help.. im searching for so long..
(Editor's notes: Search the forum.)

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Sultan	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Wednesday, October 19, 2011 5:59:27 AM
I have some difficulties for vb6 program for parallel port communication. can any one help me by send me the complete code + dll files. thankx
Mike	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Saturday, December 04, 2010 5:15:59 PM
For effective and simple control of parallel port, check out LibertyBASIC. Port driver for XP and above is included with distribution and there is an excellent and supportive user forum with a hardware interfacing thread. http://www.libertybasic.com
Karl	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Tuesday, November 17, 2009 4:13:37 PM
I'm exploring your site; it has great info. I built a small PCB with a ULN2003 chip driving reed relays to control my room lighting (dimmer) using the parallel port on my PC. It's simple and works quite well. I'd now like to add the ability to read the level of the dimmer and send this data to the PC. The dimmer has 4 LED's which I believe are 9VAC and are either on or off. I need to translate this to something that could be read by the parallel port and sent to an app on the PC. Any ideas?
Rob	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Thursday, September 10, 2009 9:44:08 PM
Verhy informative, Well done!
anonymous	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Sunday, June 28, 2009 2:44:22 PM
is it passable to do this same thing using the usb port instead of the Parallel Port I have been looking all over the internet trying to find a schematic diagram on this if you have any information please let me know thank you Jeremy
kurdi muhammad	Using this circuit in Windows XP	Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:34:24 AM
You can download this dll file ( Inpout32.dll ) from http://logix4u.net/ and control your Parallel port even under Windows XP. Note: In Windows 2000 and XP and later versions of windows, you can NOT use the PPort directly . You must use a kernel mode device driver to that.......Actually inpout32.dll does that for you easily.
anonymous	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Tuesday, March 03, 2009 7:16:47 AM
is it possible to use this interface to conect 2 computers for use with qbasic so that one way comuncation is possable
Black Hawk	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Saturday, February 21, 2009 10:33:47 AM
Dear Sir, by using any input, like 5v or getting 0v vich pins i can use to detect whether hardware is connected or not
Javad Ahamad K.V	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Friday, October 10, 2008 1:16:46 AM
I am very happy with your vb parallel port programming.it helped me a lot. i have a doubt? if we want to input data through status port by shorting it and ground how we can detect at the time of running? eg: i runned my program then when i set 88 form colour shoul be red,and if the value is 104 the form colour should be blue without exiting the program.what is the code for that? i tried like this, if vbinp(889)=88 then form1.backcolor=vbred elseif vbinp(889)=104 then form1.backcolor=vbblue end if this is working when it wrote under an event like click or keypress ect..... but i want to check continously without changing any event plz help me........
XerMeLL	Parallel (Printer) Port Interface	Tuesday, October 07, 2008 8:44:50 PM
Sir pls give me a kernel driver for WindowsXP, im trying to access parallel port interfacing with Assembly Language Program using A86 assembler.. pls help.. im searching for so long.. (Editor's notes: Search the forum.)