It was suggested on a previous post that the problem is a non standard parallel
port address. IMHO the BASIC "LPRINT" function works through the bios and so
should find the port no matter what address it has.

What have you done about hand shaking? when using the BASIC "LPRINT" command it
is necessary to hand shake. The very least you will need to do is connect strobe
( db25 pin-1) to acknowledge (db25 pin 10). You may have to set the correct
levels on the pins 11-17 as well. A very common hand shake set up is:
Stb (pin 1)  connected to Ack (pin 10)
bsy (pin 11) connected to +5
Pe  (pin 12) connected to gnd
Sel (pin 13) connected to gnd
But your computer may be different

Also when using LPRINT to output data other than ASCII text you must include the
BASIC statement "WIDTH 255" to prevent BASIC from inserting the C/R-L/F sequence
into your output data

When using the BASIC "OUT" command hand shaking is not necessary but you must
have the correct port number. This simple QBASIC program looks at the bios jump
table and returns with Lp1 set to the correct address for LPT-1.

S1: Find lpt-1
  DEF SEG = 40
  LP1 = PEEK(8)+(PEEK(9)*256)
  DEF SEG
  RETURN

Another possible cause of the problems you describe is that the port does not
source or sink enough current to activate the stepper driver. Lap top computers
run on batteries. To conserve battery life the parallel port drive current is
limited. Does your stepper driver require more drive than the port can deliver?

I suggest that you monitor the output port with an "O" scope or logic probe
while your motor driver is disconnected.

It may in fact be working but just can not provide the drive current necessary

. . . Brian Whittaker

> -----Original Message-----

>Hi, I have been trying to drive my pcb drilling
>machine using the parallel port of a Toshiba
>T1100 (old, but cheap) and have run out of ideas
> . . . snip . . .
>no matter which way I talk to the port (lpt1)
>it doesn't work. I have tried OUT, LPRINT, and
>the print character service (INT17, service 0)-
>all work ok on my pentium but not on the T1100.
>If I hook up my printer to the T1100, I can print
>ok so the port is working. A test program reports
>the lpt port as H378 (lpt1), but just in case I
>tried lpt2 +3- still no good.