Windows 8 LPT port setup?

[ryno fab]

has anybody used pcam with windows 8? having trouble finding the epp setting in the bios. i restart in the setting mode but dont see epp anywhere.

[SignTorch Vector Art]

by setting mode you mean you hit a key while booting to enter bios setup, right?

if the parallel port is built in, there's usually a section in bios setup called 'integrated peripherals' or similar where available port modes and i/o addresses can be chosen,

if you find the i/o address settings and there is no EPP option, then I would assume it is EPP compliant

if the port is not built in, the bios setup only shows features built into the mother board, so the port card would proably have dip switches or jumpers for those settings (or some card configuration software)

[ryno fab]

We meet again Mr SignTorch! You where a great help with my stepper motor question.
Yes that is what I meant by settings. My computer vocabulary is a bit nomadic. Everything you posted is exactly correct. I wish I would have checked this post a little earlier. It would have saved me a bit of time being put on hold. I put this parallel card in. Smarttech is the brand. I didn't see any jumpers or dips. it says on the box that it is epp capable. I found some setting for it in the device manager but no spp/epp/ecp settings. put in a note to tech support at smart tech. When or if I get his figured out I will post something on it.
Thanks for the info.

[SignTorch Vector Art]

are you having trouble connecting a device to the port?

when you right click on the port in device manager and hit properties and go to the resources tab

you usually have to make sure the i/o-range and IRQ settings are set the same in any software that is supposed to communicate on that port (rarely you might also have to match the settings on the port-settings tab)

standard parallel ports are typically based on epp compliance as a rule since like 1994

epp variants (like ecp) have more to do with how the computer channels data to the port than how the port itself operates

so whether it's called ecp, epp, ppp or lpt shouldn't make a huge difference to most connected devices

[geo4932]

You obviously have an add-on PCI parallel port card. That will not be in the BIOS of the computer. You will find the settings in the Windows Device Manager. You should set the Port Settings to
"Use any interrupt assigned to the port"
"Enable legacy plug and play support"

However, you did not mention which version of the Plasmacam software and machine you have.

George

[zoeconner]

I have the same problem. Can someone help me on what to set the parallel port settings in plasmacam. Here is my port range but can't figure it out.

[SignTorch Vector Art]

I have the same problem. Can someone help me on what to set the parallel port settings in plasmacam. Here is my port range but can't figure it out.

Theoretically, the first address is the base address for that port which should match the base address in the target software settings. And what George said.

Why not call plasmacam tech support? They probably have solved that problem a million times over.

[zoeconner]

I did and this is what they told me. When I tried it it still won't work. They were closed when I tried again. Just want to get it back up this weekend but I will just have to wait. I also tried every number you see.

[SignTorch Vector Art]

that figures, cnc always breaks down at the least convenient time,

I've no experience getting addon cards and plasmacam to cooperate

Most of my computers that don't have a parallel port do have an LPT connector on the board and settings to go with it in BIOS, so all I had to do was plug in a db-25 connector that mounts in an expansion slot and enable the port in BIOS.

With com ports configured in BIOS, the addresses are usually 3 digits, the IRQ is usually 1 digit (not counting leading zeroes), and their values usually correspond with one or two standard values, and they're much less mysterious than addon cards. Like shown below. I don't have a pc with an addon card to refer to at the moment. If you don't want to crash the whole computer it might be best not to risk changing system settings around experimentally.

[zoeconner]

I think you just helped out. I have another parellel port that plugs in a IDE cable or something like it. I just used the card slot because it was available. I'll switch it and let you know. Thanks.

[zoeconner]

It's kind of hard to explain how I got it to work but thanks!