Read incoming data from a parallel port on a PC

S

Thread Starter

Sean Tindall

I have a Panelmate unit spitting out alarms onto a parallel port cable connected to a dot-matrix printer. Alarms are printed out in this fashion as they occur.

We would like to get rid of this printer and do something "better". There are big plans for the future, but in the short term, to get rid of the printer sooner I think we can connect a laptop to the parallel port and monitor it.

The question is: What utility can monitor incoming traffic on a parallel port and direct the traffice to a log file?
(I would prefer something I can use in a script).

Is anyone doing something similar?
 
If I'm not mistaken, the PanelMate's printer output is serial and requires an external serial/parallel converter. Remove the converter and bring the data into your PC through a COM port. The PanelMate's 'PLC name and ports table' will have the port parameters.
 
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