pyParallel [in developement]
============================

Overview
--------
This module encapsulates the access for the parallel port. It provides
backends for Python running on Windows and Linux. Other platforms are
possible too but not yet integrated.

This module is still under developement. But it may be useful for
developers.
The windows version needs a compiled extension and the giveio.sys driver
for Windows NT/2k/XP. The extension module can be compiled with distutils
with either MSVC or GCC/mingw32.

It is released under a free software license, see LICENSE.txt for more
details.

(C) 2001-2003 Chris Liechti cliechti@gmx.net

Homepage: http://pyserial.sf.net

Features
--------
    * same class based interface on all supported platforms
    * port numbering starts at zero, no need to know the port name in the
      user program
    * port string (device name) can be specified if access through numbering
      is inappropriate 

Requirements
------------
    * Python 2.2 or newer
    * "Java Communications" (JavaComm) extension for Java/Jython

Installation
------------
Extract files from the archive, open a shell/console in that directory and
let Disutils do the rest:
python setup.py install

The files get installed in the "Lib/site-packages" directory in newer
Python versions.

Short introduction
------------------
>>> import parallel
>>> p = parallel.Parallel()     #open LPT1
>>> p.setData(0x55)

Examples
--------
Please look in the CVS Repository. There is an example directory where you
can find a n example module piloting an LCD display through the parallel port.
http://pyserial.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pyserial/trunk/pyparallel/examples/

References
----------
    * Python: http://www.python.org
    * Jython: http://www.jython.org
    * Java@IBM http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/ (JavaComm
      links are on the download page for the respecive platform jdk)
    * Java@SUN http://java.sun.com/products/
