PC parallel port (IEEE 1284) subsystem
The Linux subsystem for classic PC parallel ports, the 25-pin LPT connectors once used for printers, scanners, Zip drives, and dongles. It still backs modern PCI and PCIe add-in cards from vendors like Brainboxes and ASIX that keep parallel ports alive for industrial controllers, lab instruments, EPROM programmers, and other legacy peripherals.
recommendation
Worth keeping but flagging as legacy. Upstream activity is still happening in 2025, including a patch adding support for new Brainboxes XC cards and a 2024 series adding I/O-memory support, and PCI/PCIe parallel-port cards are still sold new for industrial niches. There is no replacement subsystem that offers the same host parallel-port abstraction, so removal would strand the users who still depend on it.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Upstream saw a 2025 patch adding Brainboxes XC cards to parport_pc, which is evidence of ongoing support for still-relevant adapter hardware.
- lore.kernel.org
A 2024 parport series added I/O-memory support, indicating substantive maintenance rather than treewide churn only.
- brainboxes.com
Brainboxes was still selling a PCI parallel-port card (UC-146) with pricing and add-to-cart availability in 2025-era crawls, showing new hardware remained commercially available.
- asix.com.tw
ASIX documents the AX99100 PCIe multi-I/O controller with a 2S+1P parallel-port configuration; the page marks it 'NOT FOR NEW DESIGN!!', consistent with legacy but extant deployments.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
drivers/parport is a real driver subtree with multiple module entry points and Kconfig targets for PC-style, PCI multi-I/O, and legacy platform ports. lore_file_timeline on drivers/parport/parport_pc.c showed activity through 2025-03-13, including new hardware-enable patches and stable backports; no removal signal was found from the retrieved lore evidence. Web search located current commercial PCI/PCIe LPT cards (Brainboxes) and the ASIX AX99100 controller page, so the hardware is still sold new in 2025 but appears confined to legacy/industrial niches. No single upstream replacement driver covers the same host-parport abstraction, so removal would be premature; annotate as legacy instead. URL provenance: first two via lore_file_timeline, last two via web search_query.