Beginning with RSP 2.1 parallel port access for ADC and Trigger functions is facilitated by a new driver. The old TVicPort driver was difficult to install and did not allow use of non-standard printer port addresses as supplied by some parallel port add-on cards. If you are still using an older version of RSP and are having trouble with Printer Port Not Found errors, see the Troubleshooting page or upgrade to the latest version of RSP and use the configuration information on this page.
When using the parallel port for normal printing purposes, you don't have to consider the base address of the port. To use the parallel port for running an ADC or manipulating outputs as an action of a Trigger in Radio-SkyPipe 2 we do need to know this address. Most computers that come with a parallel port will use the base address of 378 (hex) . A few will use 278 or 3BC hex. Many computers are now coming without parallel ports, instead relying on USB based printer control. For desktop computers you can add a PCI bus parallel card for very little money. Unfortunately, many of these cards come with non-standard base port addresses. To discover the base address you can open Device Manager. The way I find Device Manager in Windows Xp is by looking in Control Panel and then selecting System.
Under the Hardware tab you will find the Device Manager button.
Under the category Ports (COM & LPT) double click on the parallel port you want to examine. The properties window of the device will appear.
Select the Resources tab. In the Resource Settings window you will see an I/O range. The base port of the parallel port will usually appear as the first number listed. In the picture above we see B000 as the address assigned to this add-on PCI parallel port. OK we have our address now lets apply it in RSP2:
Open the Options window in RSP2 and select the Data Source tab. Then click the ADC Setup button.
Select the Parallel Port tab. You will see the standard addresses mentioned above along with boxes were you may supply non-standard addresses. To add a non-standard address simply type it in the box and select the radio button associated with that box. Remember we are using hexadecimal format as is traditionally associated with these addresses. Click Done and click the Save button before leaving the Options window. That is all there is to it.