No parallel port (LPT1:) on new computers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gab
  • Start date Start date
G

Gab

Hello everybody,

It seems that there is a trend to give up with parallel ports on new
computers. Anyway it is the case on my new Dell 9100 computer.
My old but perfectly working laser printer Canon LPB-4i has, of course, only
one such parallel port.
What solutions are available ?

1) A special cable with a parallel plug on one end and an USB plug at the
other ? I bought one (i'ts quite expensive (39?)) and the connection works
but the Windows XP driver seems to be inappropriate (error messages, 2 or 3
minutes of waiting time before printing, missing text, etc..). Is there a
driver somewhere for such a situation ?

2) Connect the printer to a printer router with a parallel entry ? It seems
more expensive than the preceding one, but will it work better ? Hass anyone
experienced such a solution ?

3) Other ?

It seems this problem will show up more and more frequently, but I could not
find it in this forum.

Gab
 
Gab said:
Hello everybody,

It seems that there is a trend to give up with parallel ports on new
computers. Anyway it is the case on my new Dell 9100 computer.
My old but perfectly working laser printer Canon LPB-4i has, of course, only
one such parallel port.
What solutions are available ?

1) A special cable with a parallel plug on one end and an USB plug at the
other ? I bought one (i'ts quite expensive (39?)) and the connection works
but the Windows XP driver seems to be inappropriate (error messages, 2 or 3
minutes of waiting time before printing, missing text, etc..). Is there a
driver somewhere for such a situation ?

2) Connect the printer to a printer router with a parallel entry ? It seems
more expensive than the preceding one, but will it work better ? Hass anyone
experienced such a solution ?

3) Other ?

It seems this problem will show up more and more frequently, but I could not
find it in this forum.

Gab
Click to expand...
I would probably go with a parallel add-on card. I'm not sure where you
are located, but Newegg.com has several
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=73&Submit=Property

ken
 
Some of these new motherboards still have a header on the board for a
parallel port, you just need a special cable to connect to it. If so, it
would be seen in the BIOS settings where it is turned on or off.
Barring that, I agree that getting a PCI card is a cheap solution.
 
I would probably go with a parallel add-on card. I'm not sure where you
are located, but Newegg.com has several
Click to expand...

Problem seems to be that serial and parallel ports are on the way
out, so it's a card for each, and if like me, not being into games,
but do need photo-editing and prefer a tried and trusted PCI card,
it's another slot filled, and if you haven't on-board sound, another
card, then there is your network card. You run out of
card slots.
 
Just get an External Print Server of sort and connecting directly into the
Router. That way, you could set up the printer as a Networked PRinter. later
on, changing printer will be a very easy task.

Dewaine
 
1) A special cable with a parallel plug on one end and an USB plug at the
other ? I bought one (i'ts quite expensive (39?)) and the connection works
but the Windows XP driver seems to be inappropriate (error messages, 2 or 3
minutes of waiting time before printing, missing text, etc..). Is there a
driver somewhere for such a situation ?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a flaky cable. I have Belkin USB to Parallel adapter and
I had no problem getting them to work. With XP, the drivers should be
automatic.

Sometimes you will need to install separate printer driver, and then
manually set the port from Parallel to USB.
2) Connect the printer to a printer router with a parallel entry ? It seems
more expensive than the preceding one, but will it work better ? Hass anyone
experienced such a solution ?
Click to expand...

More expensive so save that if you still can't get the USB option to
work and have problem with option #3 for some reason.
3) Other ?
Click to expand...

$10 PCI card with parallel port. Requires one available PCI slot but
if you have extra slots and don't plan to max out your PC, this one is
probably the cheapest.
 
It seems that there is a trend to give up with parallel ports on new
computers. Anyway it is the case on my new Dell 9100 computer.
My old but perfectly working laser printer Canon LPB-4i has, of course, only
one such parallel port.
What solutions are available ?
Click to expand...

3) Serial... While many laptops have ditched parallel ports, many still
include 9pin serial ports, and it just so happens that many older
generation lasers included a DB-25 pin port for serial. After all the
mac was a popular home computer and didn't support parallel directly.
Somtimes the serial port was not as fast, you might be limited to 9600
baud, but it might be a viable option.
 
Impmon said:
Sounds like a flaky cable. I have Belkin USB to Parallel adapter and
I had no problem getting them to work. With XP, the drivers should be
automatic.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that most USB to Parallel converters are unidirectional. That is,
they work with the more basic printer interface and will not pass scanner data,
or printer status information back to the computer. Some printers will flat out
refuse to work with them.
 
zakezuke said:
3) Cereal... While many laptops have ditched parallel ports, many still
include 9pin serial ports, and it just so happens that many older
generation lasers included a DB-25 pin port for serial. After all the
mac was a popular home computer and didn't support parallel directly.
Somtimes the serial port was not as fast, you might be limited to 9600
baud, but it might be a viable option.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you to ken, ato_zee, Dewaine Chan, Dan G, Impmon, Clark W.Griswold Jr,
zakesuke, measekite, who alltogether sorted out the issues of my problem.
Whatever the reason is, the cable does not work, and I found many people on
Internet who are desperatly searching a driver to have this solution work
but do not succed, so I give up in this direction.
I do not have a serial port on my printer, but I have a free PCI slot.
So I opted for a parallel port PCI card. I bought one on e-bay for cheap,
and I hope it works. Anyway it sounds as the cheapest and most secure
solution.

Thanks to everybody

Gab
 
Problem seems to be that serial and parallel ports are on the way
out, so it's a card for each
Click to expand...

For only slightly more than a parallel-port PCI card, you can get one
also with a serial (or two) ports.

Back in 286 days the printer and video (VGA) port wasn't onboard, it
an ISA card. At least it was cheap to replace if someone was doing hot
connects with the printer and blew up the port.

My last PC seemed to have leprosy, first the printer port failed so I
got a PCI card for that; then the Ethernet so another for that.
Finally one day the keyboard PS2 died, and it wouldn't boot with a USB
keyboard, so it was game over.
 
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