Is is possible to use PCI bus signals to make an ISA printer port???
- posted
15 years ago
Is is possible to use PCI bus signals to make an ISA printer port???
Over 4 million web pages seem to think so.
-- http://improve-usenet.org/index.html aioe.org, Goggle Groups, and Web TV users must request to be white
Errr no, please read my post again, carefully......
I'd go with "No," as there is no "ISA printer port" as such. ISA and PCI define an internal system bus; the parallel printer port that's been with us from the early IBM PC days is a separate interface. That said, PCI expansion cards that host parallel printer ports are widely available.
Driving a parallel port *directly* from the PCI bus isn't possible; different signaling and I/O standards. Add enough glue and level shifters to do the trick and the result is pretty much the interface card above...
-- Rich Webb Norfolk, VA
Additional NO as on a machine with a pre-existing PCI to ISA bridge, you almost certainly will find that the classic ISA printer port addresses 278h, 378h and 3BCh are already reserved by the bridge. If it has any legacy ports (e.g. PS2 keyboard/mouse, serial or printer) it probably has such a bridge even without any ISA slots.
You can put a PCI card in for an electrically compatible printer port, but it wont be software compatible. At best, you'll have to use a different IRQ and base address.
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.