Logging data from parallel port.
 

There's a linux server in a school I do some admin for. And there's an alarm system for the school near by. The alarm outputs some log data via a telephone cable from time to time, and that cable is wired into a parallel plug. That parallel plug was plugged into an old daisywheel printer, and as the alarm system send output, it was churned out of the printer.

Well now the printer is dead, and we were hoping to be able to plug the parallel plug into the linux machine, and set something up to record the output (input by this point) to a file.

So, is there a little tool, or simple script I can use to dump parallel port input to a file, it's all just text I guess.

This isn't mission critical as the alarm system keeps the last 72 hours in memory, but it's used for identifying recurring problems etc.

Thanks.

If the telephone cable is only 4-6 wires then the printer's port is probably a serial inteface. If so then one can use windows hyperterminal, linux minicom or just the cat command. I would venture that the serial port is the typical 9600,8,n,1 settings. You will also need a NULL adapter to connect the alarm to a PC.