This is the Readme file for seeprom.zip, the file to accompany the article "Programming Serial EEPROMs from a PC's Parallel Port" 
by Jan Axelson 
email: jaxelson@lvr.com
web: http://www.lvr.com

You may use these files, or any portion of them, in the programs you write, if you accept the following disclaimer: 

Use these files entirely at your own risk. Writing directly to hardware ports can result in system crashes, loss of data, and even permanent damage. Inpout32.dll and Inpout16.dll were developed to allow access to parallel ports and other ports on custom hardware, but you can use it to attempt to access any hardware that is mapped as an I/O port.

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seeprom.zip contains the following files:

Program files. This project will run under the 16-bit or 32-bit edition of Visual Basic 4:
seeprom.vbp. The project file.
seeprom.frm. The form.
inpoutv4.bas. Declarations for the inpout DLLs.

The DLLs:
inpout32.dll. The DLL for port I/O in 32-bit programs.
inpout16.dll. The DLL for port I/O in 16-bit programs.

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Information about inpout32.dll and inpout16.dll
 
Inpout32.dll and Inpout16.dll enable direct reading and writing to I/O ports in Visual-Basic programs. They were developed to allow access to parallel ports and other ports on custom hardware, but you can use it to attempt to access any hardware that is mapped as an I/O port.

1. Use inpout32.dll with 32-bit programs created with the 32-bit edition of VB4. Use inpout16.dll with 16-bit Visual-Basic programs created with VB3 or the 16-bit edition of VB4.

2. Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 allow direct port reads and writes unless a VxD has control of the port and blocks access. Under Windows NT, direct port access is not allowed, and you must use a kernel-mode device driver.
 
3. For the latest parallel-port programming and interfacing information, visit Parallel Port Central at: 
 
http://www.lvr.com 
 
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How to run the seeprom program:
 
1. Copy inpout32.dll or inpout16.dll to one of these locations: your default Windows directory (usually \Windows), your Windows system directory (usually \Windows\system), or your application's working directory. (In the Visual Basic environment, the working directory is your Visual Basic directory.)

2. Run Visual Basic and load the seeprom project.

