The Parallel
Port
The
Magic
1/O’s
parallel
port
is
configured
at the
factory
as
a
printer
port.
PIO
is a
3-pin
connector that
selects
whether
the
parallel
port
will be in
the printer
mode
(default
configuration) or
a
bi-directional general purpose
I/O
port.
You do not need to
change
this
setting
if you would like
the
parallel
port
to remain in
printer
mode, however, if you
want to
change
the
port
to
a
general
purpose I/O
port,
configure
it
according
to
the
following figure.
Printer
Mode
General
Purpose
1/0
Figure
6:
Configuring the Parallel Port
(PIO)
The
Parallel
Port
in
Printer
Mode
When you
turn your computer
on,
it searches for the
number
of printer
ports
installed
in
your
computer.
The
computer can recognize up to
three printer
ports.
The
computer
follows a
priority for
these
ports and refers to
them
as
LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3.
The
I/O
port
address 3BC-
3BF
is
the highest
priority printer
address so
it
is
logically
known
as
LPT1
or
PRN.
The
lowest
priority
address
is
278-
27F
so it
is
logically
known
as
LPT3.
The
Magic I/O leaves
the
factory configured
as LPT2 with
a
port
address
from
378-37F.
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