Parallel port
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ECP
The Extended Capabilities Mode was designed by Hewlett Packard and Microsoft to be implemented as the Extended Capabilities Port Protocol and ISA Interface Standard. This protocol uses additional hardware to generate handshaking signals etc just like the EPP mode, thus runs at very much the same speed than the EPP mode. This mode, however may work better under Windows as it can use DMA channels to move it's data about. It also uses a FIFO buffer for the sending and/or receiving of data.
Another feature of ECP is a real time data compression. It uses Run Length Encoding (RLE) to achieve data compression ratio's up to 64:1. This comes is useful with devices such as Scanners and Printers where a good part of the data is long strings which are repetitive.
The Extended Capabilities Port supports a method of channel addressing. This is not intended to be used to daisy chain devices up but rather to address multiple devices within one device. Such an example is many fax machines on the market today which may contain a Parallel Port to interface it to your computer. The fax machine can be split up into separate devices such as the scanner, modem/Fax and printer, where each part can be addresses separately, even if the other devices cannot accept data due to full buffers.
The Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) was designed in a joint venture between Intel, Xircom & Zenith Data Systems. EPP Ports were first specified in the EPP 1.7 standard, and then later included in the IEEE 1284 Standard released in 1994. EPP has two standards, EPP 1.7 and EPP 1.9. There are differences between the two standards which may affect the operation of devices. This is further discussed latter. EPP has a typical transfer rate in the order of 500KB/S to 2MB/S. This is achieved by allowing the hardware contained in the port to generate handshaking, strobing etc, rather that have the software do it, which was the case with Centronics.
For the hobbyist, EPP is more commonly used than ECP. EPP differs from ECP by the fact that the EPP Port generates and controls all the transfers to and from the peripheral. ECP on the other hand requires the peripheral to negotiate a reverse channel and control the handshaking. This is harder to achieve with common glue logic, thus really requires a dedicated controller or ECP Peripheral Chip.
Hope that helps
The Extended Capabilities Mode was designed by Hewlett Packard and Microsoft to be implemented as the Extended Capabilities Port Protocol and ISA Interface Standard. This protocol uses additional hardware to generate handshaking signals etc just like the EPP mode, thus runs at very much the same speed than the EPP mode. This mode, however may work better under Windows as it can use DMA channels to move it's data about. It also uses a FIFO buffer for the sending and/or receiving of data.
Another feature of ECP is a real time data compression. It uses Run Length Encoding (RLE) to achieve data compression ratio's up to 64:1. This comes is useful with devices such as Scanners and Printers where a good part of the data is long strings which are repetitive.
The Extended Capabilities Port supports a method of channel addressing. This is not intended to be used to daisy chain devices up but rather to address multiple devices within one device. Such an example is many fax machines on the market today which may contain a Parallel Port to interface it to your computer. The fax machine can be split up into separate devices such as the scanner, modem/Fax and printer, where each part can be addresses separately, even if the other devices cannot accept data due to full buffers.
The Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) was designed in a joint venture between Intel, Xircom & Zenith Data Systems. EPP Ports were first specified in the EPP 1.7 standard, and then later included in the IEEE 1284 Standard released in 1994. EPP has two standards, EPP 1.7 and EPP 1.9. There are differences between the two standards which may affect the operation of devices. This is further discussed latter. EPP has a typical transfer rate in the order of 500KB/S to 2MB/S. This is achieved by allowing the hardware contained in the port to generate handshaking, strobing etc, rather that have the software do it, which was the case with Centronics.
For the hobbyist, EPP is more commonly used than ECP. EPP differs from ECP by the fact that the EPP Port generates and controls all the transfers to and from the peripheral. ECP on the other hand requires the peripheral to negotiate a reverse channel and control the handshaking. This is harder to achieve with common glue logic, thus really requires a dedicated controller or ECP Peripheral Chip.
Hope that helps
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