Parallel port

In <a href="/facts/Computing/Kghtm9fX">computing</a>, a parallel port is a type of <a href="/facts/Hardware_interface/rJh0cHs6">interface</a> found on early <a href="/facts/Computer/SQe1aK05">computers</a> (<a href="/facts/Personal_computer/koaYfNce">personal</a> and otherwise) for connecting <a href="/facts/Peripheral/3lEBPE14">peripherals</a>. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple <a href="/facts/Bit/S972NSaD">bits</a> of data at once (<a href="/facts/Parallel_communication/9quqJd8G">parallel communication</a>), as opposed to <a href="/facts/Serial_communication/r5xP7P1c">serial communication</a>, in which bits are sent one at a time. To do this, parallel ports require multiple data lines in their cables and <a href="/facts/Computer_port_(hardware)/87F2NcNc">port</a> connectors and tend to be larger than contemporary <a href="/facts/Serial_port/VpcrH530">serial ports</a>, which only require one data line.
There are many types of parallel ports, but the term has become most closely associated with the printer port or Centronics port found on most personal computers from the 1970s through the 2000s. It was an industry <a href="/facts/De_facto_standard/TRELHVwI">de facto standard</a> for many years, and was finally standardized as <a href="/facts/IEEE_1284/Dz42InxA">IEEE 1284</a> in the late 1990s, which defined the <a href="/facts/Enhanced_Parallel_Port/Dz42InxA">Enhanced Parallel Port</a> (EPP) and <a href="/facts/Extended_Capability_Port/Dz42InxA">Extended Capability Port</a> (ECP) bi-directional versions. Today, the parallel port interface is virtually non-existent in new computers because of the rise of <a href="/facts/USB/XcIKWLyg">Universal Serial Bus</a> (USB) devices, along with <a href="/facts/Print_server/4gr2wCYq">network printing</a> using <a href="/facts/Ethernet/nMfhU8tU">Ethernet</a> and <a href="/facts/Wi-Fi/u94quCsx">Wi-Fi</a> connected printers.
The parallel port interface was originally known as the Parallel Printer Adapter on IBM <a href="/facts/PC_compatible/zGUpl7Sh">PC-compatible</a> computers. It was primarily designed to operate <a href="/facts/Dot_matrix_printing/unsFQb8J">printers</a> that used IBM's eight-bit <a href="/facts/Extended_ASCII/Agfdo1R0">extended ASCII</a> <a href="/facts/Character_set/ShJHIMoA">character set</a> to print text, but could also be used to adapt other peripherals. Graphical printers, along with a host of other devices, have been designed to communicate with the system.

Parallel port open-in-new

Parallel port