Re: Connecting through parallel port

[John Alvord <jalvo@mbay.net>]

On Wed, 20 Feb 2002 10:39:36 -0500 (EST), Bill Davidsen
<davidsen@tmr.com> wrote:

>On 20 Feb 2002, Paulo J. Matos wrote:
>
>> I have a LAN at home and know I just got another computer to
>> connect to the LAN, I also found a parallel-parallel cable. The
>> network is ethernet, is it possible to connect the new computer
>> using the parallel ports of the computers to the server of the
>> LAN so that this new computer is able to have access to the
>> internet and the rest of stuff?
>> What do I need to configure in the kernel?
>> Is there any how-to out there that answers this question?
>
>There was a protocol called PLIP which did just what you want. I've used
>it many times for laptop install (Patrick even fixed it in Slackware at my
>request).
>
>Unfortunately, while the feature is still in recent 2.[45] kernels, it
>appears to be broken. The last laptop I installed needed a network card to
>get working.
>
>Note that using good cable and short runs you can push PPP over the serial
>ports at 230400bps, and possibly even use the bonding driver (or EQL) to
>hang several in parallel. I would think that was fast enough for casual
>use, although PL/IP was faster. I think the parport stuff is the cause,
>and it may be that only the config info need be changed, I just haven't
>chased it.
>
>Anyone having a fix or info that there's a workaround, fel free to expand
>on this!

This was interesting when NIC (network interface cards) cost $100.
Nowadays, they are a lot less costly and interest in the PLIP solution
has evaporated.

john