parallel port?!?

[Richard B]

I would like to know how to communicate with the parallel port under
python. Is this possible? If so can it be done under all operating
systems that support python.
I need to interface with the parallel port to send commands to a board
connected to it. I have just come to grips with python, it is my first
language, so I think this is what I should use to communicate with the
parallel port so that I can implement new features latter on. If it is
not possible to communicate directly with the parallel port, are there
any open source communication programs which work under Windows and
Linux which I could communicate to through python.
Sorry for long message but this is kind of important.
Thanks in advanced.