Centronics parallel port
E200314
The Centronics parallel port is a standardized interface originally developed for connecting printers and other peripherals to computers, widely used on early personal computers before the advent of USB.
All labels observed (5)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Centronics interface | 1 |
| Centronics parallel port canonical | 1 |
| Centronics printer port | 1 |
| IEEE 1284 | 1 |
| IEEE 1284 parallel port modes | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1774687 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Centronics parallel port Context triple: [Commodore Amiga 1000, expansionPorts, Centronics parallel port]
-
A.
Parallel ATA
Parallel ATA is an older computer interface standard used to connect storage devices like hard drives and optical drives to a motherboard using parallel data transmission.
-
B.
NuBus
NuBus is a 32-bit, processor-independent expansion bus standard widely used in late-1980s and early-1990s workstations and personal computers, including many Apple Macintosh systems.
-
C.
IEEE 488 GPIB standard
The IEEE 488 GPIB standard is a widely used digital interface specification that enables communication and control among electronic test and measurement instruments and computers.
-
D.
IBM PC XT
The IBM PC XT is an early 1980s personal computer from IBM that expanded on the original IBM PC with a built-in hard drive and more expansion capabilities, becoming a widely used business desktop system.
-
E.
IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter
The IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter (CGA) is an early IBM PC graphics standard and expansion card that provided low-resolution color and text display capabilities for personal computers in the 1980s.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Centronics parallel port Target entity description: The Centronics parallel port is a standardized interface originally developed for connecting printers and other peripherals to computers, widely used on early personal computers before the advent of USB.
-
A.
Parallel ATA
Parallel ATA is an older computer interface standard used to connect storage devices like hard drives and optical drives to a motherboard using parallel data transmission.
-
B.
NuBus
NuBus is a 32-bit, processor-independent expansion bus standard widely used in late-1980s and early-1990s workstations and personal computers, including many Apple Macintosh systems.
-
C.
IEEE 488 GPIB standard
The IEEE 488 GPIB standard is a widely used digital interface specification that enables communication and control among electronic test and measurement instruments and computers.
-
D.
IBM PC XT
The IBM PC XT is an early 1980s personal computer from IBM that expanded on the original IBM PC with a built-in hard drive and more expansion capabilities, becoming a widely used business desktop system.
-
E.
IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter
The IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter (CGA) is an early IBM PC graphics standard and expansion card that provided low-resolution color and text display capabilities for personal computers in the 1980s.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
computer hardware interface
ⓘ
parallel port ⓘ printer interface standard ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Centronics parallel port
ⓘ
surface form:
Centronics interface
Centronics parallel port ⓘ
surface form:
Centronics printer port
standard parallel port ⓘ |
| category |
computer bus
ⓘ
printer technology ⓘ |
| commonlyUsedInDecade |
1980s
ⓘ
1990s ⓘ |
| communicationDirection | host-to-printer data transfer ⓘ |
| compatibility | basis for many PC parallel port implementations ⓘ |
| connectionTopology | point-to-point ⓘ |
| dataBusWidth | 8 bits ⓘ |
| dataEncoding | parallel byte-wise transfer ⓘ |
| dataTransferMode | parallel ⓘ |
| developedBy | Centronics Data Computer Corporation ⓘ |
| direction | primarily unidirectional ⓘ |
| handshakingSignals |
ACK
ⓘ
AUTOFEED ⓘ BUSY ⓘ ERROR ⓘ INIT ⓘ PE ⓘ SELECT ⓘ STROBE ⓘ |
| hostSideConnectorType | DB-25 female connector ⓘ |
| influenced | design of IEEE 1284 parallel port modes ⓘ |
| introducedInDecade | 1970s ⓘ |
| maximumCableLength | approximately 3 meters recommended ⓘ |
| physicalConnectorType | 36-pin micro ribbon connector ⓘ |
| predecessorOf |
Centronics parallel port
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
IEEE 1284 parallel port modes
|
| requires | device-specific printer driver on host ⓘ |
| roleInHistory | de facto standard for printer connections before USB ⓘ |
| signalGroundPins | multiple dedicated ground lines ⓘ |
| signalType | TTL-level digital signals ⓘ |
| standardizedAs |
Centronics parallel port
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
IEEE 1284
|
| status | largely obsolete in modern consumer computers ⓘ |
| supersededBy |
USB
ⓘ
network printing interfaces ⓘ |
| supportsStatusFeedback | yes ⓘ |
| typicalUseCase |
dongles and hardware keys
ⓘ
dot-matrix printers ⓘ early external storage devices ⓘ laser printers ⓘ |
| usedFor |
connecting external peripherals to computers
ⓘ
connecting printers to computers ⓘ |
| usedOnPlatform |
IBM PC compatible computers
ⓘ
early Apple computers via adapters ⓘ |
| voltageLevel | approximately 5V logic ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Centronics parallel port Description of subject: The Centronics parallel port is a standardized interface originally developed for connecting printers and other peripherals to computers, widely used on early personal computers before the advent of USB.
Referenced by (5)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Centronics interface
this entity surface form:
Centronics printer port
this entity surface form:
IEEE 1284
this entity surface form:
IEEE 1284 parallel port modes