Paralell Port

This is the interface on the back of a PC used for connecting external devices such as printers or a scanners. It uses a 25-pin connector (DB-25) and is rather large compared to most new interfaces. The parallel port is sometimes called a Centronics interface, since Centronics was the company that designed the original standard for parallel communication. It is also sometimes referred to as a printer port because the printer is the device most commonly attached to the parallel port. A newer type of parallel port, which supports the same connectors as the Centronics interface, is the Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) which supports bi-directional communication and can transfer data up to ten times faster than the original Centronics port. However, since the parallel port technology is rather old, don't be surprised to see USB or Firewire interfaces completely replace parallel ports in the future.