----- Original Message -----
From: Brian L. Sanburn <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2000 12:38 PM
Subject: [PCSOFT] Thanks! Re:Two Printers/One Computer


>         It appears the best thing for me to do is buy a second card.
Some of those
> who responded, however, used the term "LPT/Serial I/O card" while
others
> said "parallel port card."  Do both terms refer to the same piece of
> hardware?
>
Not quite.  You can buy a card that is strictly a parallel port card -
either one or two ports.  It contains nothing else than the parallel
port(s).  An "LPT/Serial I/O" would contain at least one parallel port
AND one or more SERIAL ports that can be used to connect a modem or some
other hardware.  The single-port parallel card would be the cheapest
option - about $10 to $20.

Parallel port cards also come for two buses - ISA or PCI.  The ISA card
is cheaper but requires a 16-bit slot which are being phased out in some
newer computers.  The PCI card requires an open 32-bit PCI slot and a
software driver.  Other things to watch for are the number of different
IO ports it can be set to (these are what determine if the card is
LPT1/2/3/etc.), the different IRQs it can use (look for one that will
accept "high IRQs") and the "transfer types" allowed.  The slowest and
cheapest kind of card will be "bi-directional" while better (and faster)
cards will also be EPP and/or ECP.

I had an SIIG PCI two-port parallel card at one time that I could not
get working in my computer because of conflicts between it and my sound
card.  I went back to two ISA cards instead.  I'm now using the
motherboard parallel port for my scanner and printer daisy-chained
together and another ISA parallel port card for an external tape drive.

                         PCSOFT's List Owner's:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>