Friday 25 June 2010

Usb To Parallel Adapter Cable - cable, printer


I bought this cable so that my 7-year old HP LaserJet 1100A printer would work with my new HP computer with Vista...even HP told me that there was nothing that would make the printer work! It DOES work and no need to override the printer driver already in the new Vista software! Cables To Go 16899 USB To DB25 IEEE-1284 Parallel Printer Adapter Cable, 6 Feet

My PC recently died and I replaced it with a new iMac with Mac OSX 10.5. I love my LaserJet 4 since it is so reliable and cheap to operate, and didn't want to rely exclusively on my inkjet printer. I decided to give this cable a try since it had good reviews. I took a risk using it on a Mac since it didn't state that it supported Macs, but it ended up working perfectly.



Installation was a breeze. Note that this cable does not plug directly into the printer, but plugs into the computer end of the existing parallel cable. I'm OK with that since it gave me more length. When I plugged it in, the Mac recognized it as a new printer with a generic driver. All I needed to do was change the driver to the HP LaserJet 4 driver and it worked fine.



I initially tried plugging this into a USB hub, but it only worked for a couple of sheets and then gave me a message that the printer was offline. I then plugged it directly into the Mac and it has worked perfectly since then. I also have another Mac and a PC on the network and they recognize the printer and print fine.

This cable is an ADAPTER for your existing printer cable. It will not plug into a centronics port. However, when combined with my existing printer cable, it worked great! I didn't even have to take any extra steps to add my HP Laserjet 6 printer to Windows XP.

I have an HP Laserjet 4L which is about 14 years old and I really did not want to part with it so I bought this parallel printer cable. I have four laptops, three with Windows XP and one with Vista Business. Like a good customer I followed the instructions that came with the cable but I could NOT get anything to print. I did a little research on the web and found the solution:

1. Do not install any printers or drivers or anything. Windows already has the drivers for HP printers.

2. Make sure your computer is turned OFF.

3. Plug the cable into the printer (printer is ON).

4. Plug the USB end of the cable into your computer.

5. Turn the computer on and the computer will do everything for you.

Verify that your printer is installed and print a test page. Set the printer as the default printer if needed. It was that EASY. This worked on each of my laptops. I'm really happy with this product - it was inexpensive, the print quality is excellent, and the print jobs even come out a bit faster!

The best advice I can give someone is to do just what you are right now: read online reviews! Lots of them. Go to the online sellers that have reviews (amazon, buy, new egg). You will eventually have to realize that the well-known name brands are more likely to work, but failures seem to be totally random and unpredictable. So be prepared to return it for a refund. I really think the manufacturers must be aware of the problems and they are choosing not to warn us.



I tried this adapter on four different printers and it only worked on one, which was, luckily, the one I really NEEDED it to work on. I also bought a cheap, no-name adapter off eBay which would not work at all and had to be returned.



I have a PowerMac running Tiger (OS X 10.4) and a Apple Laserwriter. Initially, print jobs would print, but only the first one after powering on the printer; subsequent jobs would fail. This was unacceptable. It turned out, however, that I needed to reinstall and update the OS on my MAC, and after that, printing was just fine with this adapter. There is a freeware print buffer enhancer called 'usbtb' which supposedly assists in this situation; I tried this and it prevented me from printing altogether!



I have a friend who has an iMAC running Leopard (OS X 10.5) and he has 3 HP printers. He and I were hopeful that this adapter would work for him and we decided to test it before he bought one. The Laserjet 2100 would just print blank pages. The old LaserJet 2P+ would not do anything. The LaserJet 4L would occasionally print something, but most jobs would not print and we could not really find any rhyme or reason behind this. So my experience is 25%, but even that is seeing it optimistically.



What's wrong with these things? All I can figure is that printer drivers/firmware at each end of the cable are not all that robust and have some tight communication timings such that an adapter like this will introduce slight time delays that can throw things off.

I purchased a new Dell computer with Vista and was surprised to see that it didn't have the 25 pin printer port as all my previous computers had. I have an HP Laserjet 1100 and didn't want to have to throw it out given it works perfectly fine. This adapter cable was easy to install and Vista had no problems identifying it. The adapter comes with instructions which you must follow to properly install the cable and attach the printer. Worth the money!!!

I use these cables to connect an HP LaserJet 4L and an HP BusinessJet 2250 to an XP computer with no parallel ports. Works seamlessly. Just remember to set up your printer to connect to USB port 001, 002, etc., instead of an LPTx port. From what I've read they even work through USB hubs. Super product!



UPDATE: I have now connected 3 printers using these cables, and all through USB hubs.

Recently I made the switch from a PC to an iMac. The transition has not been as smooth as I was hoping. It's taken me awhile to get used to the iMac and while I really like it for the most part, I'm still finding my iMac freezes up and crashes almost as often as my PC ever did--mostly when I have like 4-5 programs open and the internet going simultaneously. Kind of disappointing. Still, I like the iMac overall. And there is one thing I love about the iMac. You can plug almost anything into it and in my experience the computer almost always recognizes it immediately. That's what happened with my old printer and this cable.



When I made the switch to iMac I found out that my old workhorse HP LaserJet 4L wouldn't plug into my shiny new iMac because there was no parallel printer port on the iMac and there was no USB connection port on the printer. So my old printer sat dormant for 5 months while I exclusively used my inkjet printer and tried to decide if I should junk the Laserjet and buy something new. Then a friend told me there were cables out there that could make the connection. So I checked here on Amazon and sure enough there were several options.



I read a few of the reviews and decided on this cable since another reviewer had gone through virtually the same situation I had and made it work with his iMac. When I got this connection cable I plugged it into the end of the printer cable (Note: this connection cable doesn't plug right into your printer, you have to plug it into the end of your printer cable which is fine with me because it adds extra length).



Taking the advice of another reviewer I plugged the new USB end of this cable directly into the back of the iMac (as opposed to plugging it into the USB hub I have). And dramatically...nothing happened. No window popped up on the iMac telling me that a new printer was installed or found or anything. Bummer, I thought. The thing didn't work.



I looked at the instructions that came with the cable and there are NO instructions for using this with a Mac. There are only Vista instructions. So now I'm thinking either this thing doesn't work with a Mac after all or I'm going to have to go out on the internet and find a driver, etc. But then, out of curiosity I opened up System Preferences panel on the iMac and looked at the printer cue. Amazingly, there sat my HP 4L. Wow, I thought, the iMac never told me anything but just quietly hooked up my 4L ready to go.



Sure enough, I opened up a Word document and tried to print it out on the Laserjet and it worked like a charm. So I don't have to junk my old HP LaserJet 4L after all. For the $17 I paid for this cable it was totally worth it! - Printer - Usb - Cable - Parallel'


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Usb To Parallel Adapter Cable - cable, printer parallel Usb To Parallel Adapter Cable - cable, printer