Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!sunquest!alpha.sunquest.com!spg
From: spg@alpha.sunquest.com (Steve Gibbons)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.printers
Subject: Re: How fast is a parallel port?
Keywords: Centronics, Drivers, Hardware, Dataproducts,
Message-ID: <14740@sunquest.UUCP>
Date: 26 Feb 91 03:42:28 GMT
References: <1991Feb25.220636.23155@cbnewsh.att.com>
Sender: news@sunquest.UUCP
Reply-To: spg@alpha.sunquest.com
Followup-To: comp.periphs.printers
Organization: Sunquest Information Systems, H.I.S. Interfacing
Lines: 23
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.1

In article <1991Feb25.220636.23155@cbnewsh.att.com>, wcs@cbnewsh.att.com (Bill Stewart 908-949-0705 erebus.att.com!wcs) writes...
#I'm trying to find out how to connect big laser printers (50-100ppm)
#to normal computers, in particular to 386/486 boxes running UNIX.
#For a variety of ugly reasons, I don't want to use Ethernet -
#I'd really like to use a parallel port.  But nobody I've talked to
#knows how fast a parallel port can go on a typical machine, and
#nobody's tried it at speeds over about 10ppm.

#50-100 ppm is 1-2 pages/second, or typically 40-80 kilobits/second;

I'm _Not_ an expert so take this with a grain of salt...
There are communications packages that claim rates up to 250 kilobits/second,
The three mitigating factors that I can see in drawing a parallel (*heh*) would
be data-compression, and bi-directionality, and tweaking the hardware/driver. 
My back-of-the-envelope estimate is that a fast iX86 ought to be up to the
task.  The real question is whether the port itself can handle that kind of
throughput, but I guess that's really your original question...
 ___________________________________________________________________________
| Steve Gibbons, H.I.S. Interfacing | 602/885-7700x2649 or 602/296-8936(Fax)|
|   Sunquest Information Systems    |  spg@{alpha|nereid|beta}.sunquest.com |
|   930  N. Finance Center Drive    |---------------------------------------|
|   Tucson, Arizona   85710-1343    | "Stone walls do not a prison make..." |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------