Failed Parallel Port on system, Recommended Easiest Upgrade Solution ?

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06 Jul 2025 02:29 #331362 by dunnitagain
Parrallel port has failed on my old computer , running Ubuntu 10.4 and EMC2 2.4.6 . Milling machine has Pico USC , Microkinetics Steppers , Linear Scales for Position feedback.  Old computer is a mishmash of crap that has no network capabilities.
I need the easiest upgrade path , for a computer and Software . Im old and not very tech savy!  I may go to a Mesa board if it would make things easier. Any and all recommendations!

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06 Jul 2025 03:58 #331368 by unknown
The below is what I use for testing and messing around with Linuxcnc. I'm a little biased towards Lenvo, I have a couple of ThinkPads, 2 ThinkCentres and a ThinkStation. Never had an issue, my T530 ThinkPad is my daily driver.
Lenovo M73 Tower with a i5 CPU (avoid the SFF models)

You'll need a parallel motherboard port cable (otherwise you can't enable the PP in the BIOS) www.ebay.com/itm/256520010767

A small SSD is not a bad idea as well 128GB is enough.

You wont need to do much to your configs, except the small diffs from 2.7 to 2.9.

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06 Jul 2025 12:26 #331386 by tommylight
Used old Dell Optiplex 980 in Tower version has a built in parallel port, plenty can be found for very cheap, you can probaly just yank the old hard drive and put it in the new PC and everything should work. Granted the hard drive works.

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