Standard Parallel Port

What Does Standard Parallel Port Mean?

A standard parallel port (SPP) is a port for connecting various relatively high bandwidth peripherals, most commonly printers, to a PC. Later versions of the SPP allow duplex communication. They use the DB-25 connector. The original SPP, by Centronics, was introduced in 1970 and soon became the de facto industry standard. However, a number of different manufacturers used the SPP with a variety of connectors, such as the DC-35, the DD50 and the M50.

Advertisements

This term is also known as parallel port, printer port, Centronics port or Centronics interface.

Techopedia Explains Standard Parallel Port

Centronics was the company that designed the original standard for parallel communication between a computer and a printer. A newer design of the SPP, using the same DB-25 connector, is called the enhanced parallel port (EPP), or extended capabilities port (ECP). These newer ports were introduced by IBM in 1987 and had data transfer rates 10 times faster than the original SPP. In fact, only IBM logo printers, which were rebranded from Epson, could be used with IBM PCs. HP introduced its version of the EPP in 1992. But by 1994, all these interfaces were superseded by the IEEE 1284 standard.

Dongles, Zip drives and scanners were some of the early peripherals using the SPP. Other later uses included sound cards, webcams, joysticks, modems, hard drives and CD-ROM drives. Today, USB and Ethernet connections have effectively replaced the SPP and computer manufacturers consider it a legacy port.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Latest Hardware Terms

Related Reading

Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…