1# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only 2# 3# Parallel Line Internet Protocol (PLIP) network device configuration 4# 5 6config PLIP 7 tristate "PLIP (parallel port) support" 8 depends on PARPORT 9 help 10 PLIP (Parallel Line Internet Protocol) is used to create a 11 reasonably fast mini network consisting of two (or, rarely, more) 12 local machines. A PLIP link from a Linux box is a popular means to 13 install a Linux distribution on a machine which doesn't have a 14 CD-ROM drive (a minimal system has to be transferred with floppies 15 first). The kernels on both machines need to have this PLIP option 16 enabled for this to work. 17 18 The PLIP driver has two modes, mode 0 and mode 1. The parallel 19 ports (the connectors at the computers with 25 holes) are connected 20 with "null printer" or "Turbo Laplink" cables which can transmit 4 21 bits at a time (mode 0) or with special PLIP cables, to be used on 22 bidirectional parallel ports only, which can transmit 8 bits at a 23 time (mode 1); you can find the wiring of these cables in 24 <file:Documentation/networking/plip.rst>. The cables can be up to 25 15m long. Mode 0 works also if one of the machines runs DOS/Windows 26 and has some PLIP software installed, e.g. the Crynwr PLIP packet 27 driver (<http://oak.oakland.edu/simtel.net/msdos/pktdrvr-pre.html>) 28 and winsock or NCSA's telnet. 29 30 If you want to use PLIP, say Y and read the PLIP mini-HOWTO as well 31 as the NET-3-HOWTO, both available from 32 <http://www.tldp.org/docs.html#howto>. Note that the PLIP 33 protocol has been changed and this PLIP driver won't work together 34 with the PLIP support in Linux versions 1.0.x. This option enlarges 35 your kernel by about 8 KB. 36 37 To compile this driver as a module, choose M here. The module 38 will be called plip. If unsure, say Y or M, in case you buy 39 a laptop later. 40