Extended Capabilities Port Support

An ECP provides high-speed printing, and support for ECP and ECP devices is included in Windows 95. If you have an ECP, you can connect either ECP or non-ECP devices to the port. In either case, using an ECP will improve I/O performance, although ECP devices will show the greatest I/O gains.

An ECP can be configured in five different ways (defined in the port's Resources properties), as shown in the following list.

Configuration

Description

Basic Configuration 0

Standard I/O ranges for LPT ports only

Basic Configuration 1

Standard I/O ranges for LPT ports and any IRQ

Basic Configuration 2

Standard I/O ranges for LPT ports, IRQ, and any DMA setting

Basic Configuration 3

Any I/O ranges for LPT ports only

Basic Configuration 4

Any I/O ranges for LPT ports and any IRQ setting


To enable ECP support in Windows 95

  1. Consult your computer (or add-in card) manual to determine the IRQ and DMA settings selected for each of the ECP ports you want to use. You'll need this information to enable ECP support.
  2. In the System option in Control Panel, click the Device Manager tab.
  3. Click Ports (COM & LPT), and then select the ECP device. (Notice that you will see this device only if an Extended Capabilities port was detected on your computer. If you have multiple ECP ports, repeat steps 6 through 10 to configure each port's DMA and IRQ values.)
  4. Click Properties, and then click the Resources tab. This dialog box shows an I/O range that has been detected automatically.
  5. In the Settings Based On field, select Basic Configuration 2. (See the previous table for a description of possible settings for this field.)
  6. In the Resource Settings list, click Interrupt Request, and then click Change Settings.
  7. In the Edit Interrupt Request dialog box, type the IRQ value you noted in step 1, and then click OK.
  8. In the Resources properties, click Direct Memory Access.
  9. In the Edit Direct Memory Access dialog box, type the DMA value you noted in step 1, and then click OK.
  10. Shut down and restart the computer so the changes can take effect. After restarting, you can take advantage of fast I/O capabilities offered by the ECP.