You would probably be better off using a Serial port if you can. There's a module Device::Serialport for dealing with serial ports on Nix. I haven't seen anything (yet) written in Perl that deals with Parallel ports. I haven't programmed a centronics port since I wrote a mod player for the Disney Sound Source. (Way back..).

Could make a program to log in through the serial and use Net::Telnet or something similar to do what you need. You might find this C Parallel port code helpful

-Lee

"To be civilized is to deny one's nature."