Hi,
I bought a dual core Atom based Mini-ITX single board PC using on chip graphics, it had one built in parallel port.
It is a VERY low power PC, below the minimum recommendations for Mach, and by quite a margin.
I loaded 32 bit Windows7 Embedded and proceeded to run Mach3's parallel port seamlessly for a year before I added
a second parallel port in the form of a PCI card and ran that for another year.
The only time I ever had any issues was when I made the mistake of changing screens or causing a tool path redraw
or similar.
Then, about five years ago I bought an Ethernet SmoothStepper….and it puts parallel ports into the shade, way smoother and VERY
VERY much less prone to hickups/stalls etc. Best $180 improvement I've ever made to my machine.
I have also switched to Mach4 which is a quantum leap from Mach3.
The bottom line is that 32bit Windows7 will run a parallel port, but do yourself a favour and get an Ethernet SmoothStepper or a UC300 or a 57CNC
and all those quirky stalls etc are history.
Craig