On the KC compact the parallel port is connected to Port A of the Z8536 CIO.
It is a general purpose I/O port. All 8-bits can be used for input or output. The input/output of each bit can be programmed. With standard setup, bit 7 is assigned to /STROBE, and bits 0-6 are assigned to Printer DATA, making a 7-bit printer port. Additionally, the 8th printer bit is implemented via Bit5 of PIO Port C (see [[8bit Printer Ports]]).
* The Amstrad CPC has a single-direction, 7-bit port.* The KC Compact has a bi-directional, 8-bit port.
The KC compact parallel port is more powerful and flexible compared to the Amstrad CPC parallel port!