For parallel port use the Buster official ISO and install the RTAI kernel as described in the downloads page.
For mesa, use the 2.9.1 ISO or install Debian 12 BookWorm and do
sudo apt update
sudo apt install linuxcnc-uspace
reboot and enjoy.
Word of warning tho, whilst it does have an on board Parallel port header it does require a genuine Lenovo parallel port cable to work. Tried a standard one and no luck. Haven’t done any reverse engineering of it.
Normal or mini header?
For normal header with normal DB25 port/cable, the side with the red line on the wire goes on the pin1 side of the header. Be aware that some DB25 adapters/cables have that backwards, so inserting it in reverse bares no risk and might work.
Using a normal 0.1" header the parallel port options aren't shown in the BIOS setup. Use the Lenovo one and they show up. I'm guessing that one of the GND pins or pin 26 is connected to a GPIO on the incarnation of the Super IO chip. I know that for the serial port header there is a COM_DETECT pin, so the same kind of thing is at play with the Parallel I guess.
Like I said I didn't decide to pull the thing apart to find out what was going on.
Seems to be pin 18 on the header is the PR_DET# pin.
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