the parallel connector supports three standard institute of electrical and electronics engineers (ieee) 1284 modes of operation: standard parallel port (spp), enhanced parallel port (epp), and extended capability port (ecp). if you configure the parallel port to operate in bidirectional mode, it supports the ecp and epp modes. when the parallel connector is configured as bidirectional, use an ieee 1284-compliant cable that does not exceed 3 meters (9.8 ft). use the devices and i/o ports options in the ibm configuration/setup utility program to configure the parallel connector as bidirectional.