* my system resets the owner of the printer port to 'root.lp' so I need to issue as root 'chown myuser.lp' * you will need : a paper clip (or a 'high tech' solid core 22-18 awg wire) an led a button * consult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Port for the pinouts + more 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 bit number 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 pin number layout of bit to pin numbers <-- This will send a 0 or a 1 to the first pin Will accept values from 0-255 takes the port as argument The cheapest digital i/o interface Flags : PERRORP (active low), PSELECD (active high), POUTPA (active high), PACK (active low), PBUSY (active high) 1: break the paper clip in two and connect pin 11 (Busy) to pin 24 (GND) and pin 12 (Paper-Out) to 25 (GND). Those pins are normally 1 and grounding them opens the port for messages. 2: connect the led between pins 2 (Data0) and 23 (GND) 3: connect a button between pin 10 and 22 (GND) parallel port flags status (pin 10) reserved for future use device name (Linux parallel port interface) bytes to send status flags