Parallel port programming on windows XP/2000?

[jkn]

Novice Experl wrote:
> I'd like to write a simple application that interfaces with the parallel port, and changes the data on it according to keyboard input. I hope I can get it to run under windows xp and / or windows 2000.
>
> How can I do this? What do I need to know? It doesn't look like the standard library (the one under my pillow) has that feature. In addition, I've heard that with newer versions of windows don't let you communicate with the port directly, instead requiring interfacing with some driver?
>
> I came across this:
> http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/pyparallel.html
> but it seems to only be used for direct access (would it work with XP?), and hasn't been updated for a couple of years. In addition, it requires something called  "Java Communications" (JavaComm) extension for Java/Jython, doesn't provide a link to it, and when I google it - google returns the page I came from!
>
> To add to the confusion, I hope I can provide a py2exe executable of my script instead of forcing a complete installation.
>
>
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