Hi Mike
First of all you don't need a parallel port to run PathPilot. The machine connects only to the Mesa card connector, which looks and behaves like a parallel port (just better
).
The latest versions of Linux will run on almost all PC hardware but the version provided by PathPilot is NOT a recent version. It may well not recognize one or more hardware components on a new machine. There were some recent discussions on here about this issue. If I were you I'd take a used machine from your usual store (if possible with the option to return it) and see if PP will run on it. You could still use your existing Mesa card (check the interface type of the card: PCI or PCIE) and the machine would cost just maybe $50-$100. If you find one that works well you could also consider buying a second as a spare!
Step