Dr. Dobb's Journal November 1998

The Parallel-Port Shell Utility

Microsoft's Parallel-Port Shell (PPSH) utility is a valuable tool, but it can be difficult to get working correctly. When using the built-in bidirectional parallel port on various host development systems, I was unable to consistently initiate the upload to remote PC targets, despite hours of experimentation with various BIOS configuration options on both the host and the PC target. To avoid this frustration, I purchased a parallel-port adapter card for the host development system and target PC (which was in use until our prototype target was available). In all cases, the problem was resolved, and the card was well worth the $60.00 expense (approximately $30.00 per adapter card). I never had the chance to fully characterize this problem (considering the number of variables involved), so your results may be more positive.

-- J.Y.W.