If you want to use devices connected to your machine's parallel port
(the connector at the computer with 25 holes), e.g. printer, ZIP
drive, PLIP link (Parallel Line Internet Protocol is mainly used to
create a mini network by connecting the parallel ports of two local
machines) etc., then you need to say Y here; please read
Documentation/parport.txt and
<file:drivers/parport/BUGS-parport>.

For extensive information about drivers for many devices attaching
to the parallel port see <http://www.torque.net/linux-pp.html> on
the WWW.

It is possible to share a single parallel port among several devices
and it is safe to compile all the corresponding drivers into the
kernel. To compile parallel port support as a module, choose M here:
the module will be called parport.
If you have more than one parallel port and want to specify which
port and IRQ to be used by this driver at module load time, take a
look at Documentation/parport.txt.

If unsure, say Y.

source code:

drivers/parport/