The rest of this page is rough.... but ready.

The layout is a mess (sorry), and there's more editing to do (you're welcome) but there's a lot of good info and links, if you take the trouble to find them.

The following may also lead to useful information on this topic...
  http://www.phanderson.com/ (Link ok 2/05)
(Offers help with: PC Parallel Port, BASIC Stamp®, 68HC11, PIC®)

===
The following newsgroup item was posted by...

Theo Markettos, Liphook, Hampshire, UK

 Parallel Port:

 (First group: Tested, working, 2/05)
 http://www.fapo.com/ieee1284.htm
 http://www.fapo.com/1284int.htm
 http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~ih/doc/par/

 (Following not working 2/05)
 http://www.mailbag.com/users/jaxelson/parport.htm
 http://weber.u.washington.edu/~pfloyd/ee/text/para-port.html
 http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~donmck/pipex.html

 (Following not tested 2/05)

 ftp://ftp.ee.ualberta.ca/pub/cookbook/comp/ibm/pport094.doc.Z
 ftp://ftp.armory.com/pub/user/rstevew the filenames are: *lpt.faq;
                ibmlpt.faq, tomlpt.faq, and krislpt.faq. each meets
                different skill levels and needs.
 PC Magazine, Oct 27, 1992 pages 367-376
 http://www.nmsu.edu/~ET/ETTI/review/phajun96
 http://www.hut.fi/~iisakkil/stuff.html
 http://www.access.digex.net/~pha
 http://www.ens-lyon.fr/~jmfriedt/parport.faq
 A web search for IEEE1284 (using Google) should provide numerous links.

and another good link, gone at 2/05, washttp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/8302/ (Offered: Interfacing the PC, a free on-line tutorial on connecting anything electronic to your PC using common interfaces such as the Serial and Parallel Ports)

------------------- FTP Gateway: LPT/simplpt.faq --------------------

          Simple Parallel Port Reminder FAQ for Experts

 (3BCh)    | (3BDh)    | (3BEh => is LPT1 with video card 1st port)
 (956d)    | (957d)    | (958d)   (Hercules/monographic & some CGA)
-------------------------------
  378h     |  379h     |  37Ah => is LPT1 with CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA
  888d     |  889d     |  890d         (LPT2 if w/ video w/ port1)
-------------------------------
  278h     |  279h     |  27Ah => is LPT2 with CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA
  632d     |  633d     |  634d         (LPT3 if w/ video w/ port1)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 Data      | Status    | Control      |    DB-25S connector
 Base + 0  | Base + 1  | Base + 2     |    on the back of the
 Outputs   | Inputs    | OC Outputs   |    IBM PC Compatible
---------------------------------------------------------------------
           |           | bit 0 Inv <---------o 1 STB/
           |           | bit 1 Inv <---------------------o 14 AUTOLF/
 bit 0 Std <---------------------------------o 2 D0
           | bit 3 Std >-------------------------------->o 15 ERROR/
 bit 1 Std <---------------------------------o 3 D1
           |           | bit 2 Std <---------------------o 16 INIT/
 bit 2 Std <---------------------------------o 4 D2
           |           | bit 3 Inv <---------------------o 17 SLCTO/
 bit 3 Std <---------------------------------o 5 D3
 bit 4 Std <---------------------------------o 6 D4      o 18
 bit 5 Std <---------------------------------o 7 D5      o 19
 bit 6 Std <---------------------------------o 8 D6      o 20
 bit 7 Std <---------------------------------o 9 D7      o 21
           | bit 6 Std >-------------------->o 10 ACK/   o 22
           | bit 7 Inv >-------------------->o 11 BUSY   o 23
           | bit 5 Std >-------------------->o 12 PE     o 24
           | bit 4 Std >-------------------->o 13 SLCTI  o 25
                                                         |
 Key: "Inv" = INVerts logic from bit to pin voltage!!   GND
      "Std" = Standard positive logical to physical!!
Base + 0   Data I/O Address    TTL Output Only/(Tristate->Input)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bit:  7       6       5       4       3       2       1       0
Pin:  9       8       7       6       5       4       3       2
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Base + 1   Status I/O Address  TTL Input Only
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bit:  7 Inv   6       5       4       3       2       1       0
Pin:  11      10      12      13      15      NC      NC      NC
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Base + 2   Control I/O Address Open-Collector Output/(Input:WR=>04h)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bit:  7       6       5       4       3 Inv   2       1 Inv   0 Inv
Pin:  NC      NC  NC/(BiDir) Int      17      16      14      1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
On this port, bit 5 to "1" can set Data TriState for Data Input Read
*IF* it is implemented, on PS/2-type ports or by home-modification!
If pins are HI, external input can pull them down, for read of lower
four bits by writing 04H to Base + 2 I/O Address! Then read in and
recall which are inverted! Adds four inputs to the five Status bits.

Other Pins:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pins 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25  are all GROUNDED together.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright (C) 1997 by Richard Steven Walz
Free for Personal Use - All Commercial Rights Reserved

-----------------------------END-------------------------------------
-Steve
--

Someone asked...
> Has anyone made a home made burglar alarm using their home computer?
> I'm curious how the sensors would interface to the computer and if a
> sequence of senors could trigger a phone call, alarm, lights, etc.
 
The following answer came back....
You can quite easily interface switch type sensors to PC joystick, serial or
parallel port. Joystick port has also inputs to measure resistance
(for resistive sensors). {BEWARE.. those joystick ports are not always
(ever?) connected to ADCs. Connect non-energised resistances across them,
don't feed in voltages of varying levels.}
 
Some useful documents and example circuits can be found at

A long time ago (at 2/05) there were some specific links. Since
then ePanorama.net (formerly www.hut.fi) has expanded to a huge
resource. Some of the topics there a long time...

Also stuff on...

How to interface to serial and parallel port.
How to use joystick interface.

You can write a program which will read the inputs of those
sensors and do whatever you want. If you want to control
some external devices with you computer then you can interface
some relays to the parallel port (some electronics companies make
kits for doing this). The details how to control relays using
parallel port were also at ePanoram.net

Telephone line interfacing can be most easily done using a modem.
Modems can dial out easily using the simple modem AT commands. Some
modems have also voice capabilities.
 
> ... I also wondered about interfacing to the speaker...
 
You can use a cheap sound card connected to amplifier to drive
the speakers. Or you can replace the PC loudspeaker with a louder
one.
 

Ad from page's editor: Yes.. I do enjoy compiling these things for you... hope they are helpful. However.. this doesn't pay my bills!!! If you find this stuff useful, (and you run an MS-DOS or Windows PC) please visit my freeware and shareware page, download something, and circulate it for me? At least (please) send an 'I liked the parallel port use page, and I'm from (country/ state)' email? (No... I don't do spam) Links on your page to this page would also be appreciated!