!need Help CNC6040Z USB Limit switch wiring!

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hi,there magicniner can I just buy a cheap ebay Parallel Port PCIe x1 Card. and a parallel male to female or vice versa cable connected from JP board card to desktop computer to get Mach 3 responding? also is it possible to compile a xml of my machine spec ect for Mach 3 to work? just trying get around anyway I can without the cost cause I got the machine for a Bday present and it cost a sht load of money. Yes my laptop can accept a docking station and found one on ebay it does have parallel port and other ports,so I might still have a chance :)

Maybe you can maybe you can't... Nobody can answer that question about parallel port. I know Dell laptops can be tricky and even docking stations need drivers for the available ports to work. If your docking station is a REAL docking station, not just a port replicator type, then you may be able to get it work but you most probably won't do it without some pain and a lot of swearing. You must also be familiar with the configuration of your laptop and docking station BIOS, as well as the OS you are having. Windows 7 32 bits is the last one supporting parallel port, so you can't use anything better than that. Personally I have once tried with an HP laptop with docking station and XP, but it didn't work at all. I also tried just for fun with a more modern, HP ProBook6470b and W7 Pro 32 bits and it didn't work, even though the docking station had parallel port and other software using the parallel port worked with it, so it couldn't have been the OS or the BIOS or the configuration of the PC.

Anyway, if you want to stick to that PC then try the PCI card. If you are lucky and find the right card and drivers then it will work. If it is not working you can but the docking station and test it. Personally I'd buy an old desktop and would run it from there.