ksmith | Fun with cables

I was pretty excited a few days ago when

karentraviss's LJ referred me to a site that had Mac drivers for my favorite old faithful parallel-only HP 1100 LaserJet, as well as to an online shop that sold parallel-to-USB adapters. I downloaded the drivers, then purchased the cable and waitedwaitedwaited until today when the cable arrived--and I opened the box--only to find--that the cable didn't fit.

Most adapters are apparently Type B parallel-to-USB. My HP1100 uses the less common Type C parallel connector, dammit. C-to-USB adapters are apparently rare to nonexistent. There was even a discussion about it in one of the HP chatrooms--that's how I found out what type of adapter I needed.

Well, Belkin claims that if they don't have an adapter in stock, they will make it. I will give them a call tomorrow and see whether they can tackle this.

Now, isn't there an issue when printer cables are too long? The cable I do have is a Type C (Centronics 36F) to a DB25M. Add a DB25F to USB A and I should be good to go, unless the 12' or so cord is an issue.

The things I'm going through to try and get this printer going...

Current Mood: blah

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

daveamongus.livejournal.com

I don't think there are length issues with printer cables... so long as it is the standard sort that you seem to have. SCSI cables can only go so many feet (six?), while CAT5 network cable tends to have issues at and beyond 100m. But I know you can take a printer cable out at least to 50ft with no problem.

From:

kristine-smith.livejournal.com

Looking back (I'm at work, cable is at home, so I'm remembering), I have a 36F connection in the printer, so I need a 36M cable...

I get so confused.

Anyway, given that discussions at HP.com led me to believe that the printer cable I'd need would be a custom job, I phoned Belkin. Explained my issue. Within a few seconds, the tech guy gives me a standard part number. F5U002.

Wait a minute, think I, if it's this easy, why did the chat group say it was so hard? I try to question the guy a little more--why do the specs stress Windows compatibility, but not Mac? Does this matter? I need a *small* connector, btw--is this 36M part small? Anyway, I've found that in this case as in many others, it's sometimes hard to discuss things with tech folk on the phone because they know what you need and all your questions are a waste of time, so...

The Belkin price for the Centronics 36M to USBA cable in question was OHMYGOD!!, so I checked out resellers for the appropriate part number. Got a list of links. Found the one for the company from which I bought the cable that didn't fit. Hey, I thought, they have it in stock--why didn't the sales guy tell me this yesterday?

And I check out the picture of the item and danged if it doesn't look just like the too-big cable I received in the mail yesterday.

I debate phoning Belkin again to discuss the matter, but in the meantime I check out more links. One of the cheaper ones is Buy.com--I give it a shot, and find the same apparently too-big cable, but...

...they also provide a list of "If you buy this, you may want these, too" products, and one of the items listed is a "Belkin Printer cable-36 pin Centronics female--36 pin mini-Centronics male--12 in.

Going back to the HP discussion thingie, which I had printed out at the start of all this fun and frolic, one of the posters mentioned that the male end of the Centronics cable/adapter needed to be "micro" in order to fit the printer connection. I am hoping that "mini" and "micro" are the same thing, because if so, the mini-female (printer) to mini-male (adapter) to big female (adapter) to big male to USBA (Printer--Mac cable)should, eyes to the skies, work. Assuming USB is USB to a Mac as well as to Windows and there are no hidden issues I need to worry about.

So, I ordered both cables, and even with 2-day shipping, am still paying waaaay less than the Belkin price and only a few $$ more than the CDW price for the C36M to USBA cable alone.

We'll see. I haven't reached the point of diminishing returns yet, and even if I had...I'm going to get that printer to work, dammit.

And I will save the "why do they have to have 9 million frickin' kinds of cables" rant for another time.

From:

daveamongus.livejournal.com

Oh, the trials and travails. :)

And I will save the "why do they have to have 9 million frickin' kinds of cables" rant for another time.

USB is/was supposed to be this. Not only is it completely Mac/Win independent (or, rather, both have embraced the technology), but it's become the number one method of connecting peripherals in the past couple years. Firewire (or DV or IEEE 1394) is a lesser standard, but getting to be a standard just the same. The only printers that I know of with Centronics ports are Old Printers. Everything is going USB, even keyboards and mice (which can cause headaches in the Day Job), and I'm guessing the number one reason you're running into so much expense is that these adapters are only useful to a diminishing base of consumers. In a couple years, three at most, we'll hit a threshhold where legacy components such as those will be obsolete in every way. If that base of consumers hasn't yet diminished to zero by then, there will be some people left out in the cold, methinks.

But that's always how it is. Know anyone who has a 5.25" floppy drive? Up until a year or two ago, I still had a couple of them disks laying around with old school work on them. (Nevermind that 3.5" disks are going to be completely obsolete shortly, and that Apple gave up on them long ago.) The looooong time standard in video connections, VGA, is giving ground to a new standard called DVI (which, again, Apple has already done, all the way), and a VGA-only monitor will require an adapter itself in a few years.

It's a fun game, and one that I get to play for a living, these days. Wooo, go me.

From:

kristine-smith.livejournal.com

In a couple years, three at most, we'll hit a threshhold where legacy components such as those will be obsolete in every way. If that base of consumers hasn't yet diminished to zero by then, there will be some people left out in the cold, methinks.

Which means that if I can get this printer to work, I had better stock up on toner while I still can.

Newer printers, at least the ones I've had, seem designed to blow up within 3 years--HP planned their obsolescence well. I never thought I'd see the day when printers became essentially disposable.

From:

daveamongus.livejournal.com

When

tappu worked tech support for a software company/ISP, she had a number of clients who had bought Lexmark inkjet printers for $30. They were trash, basically, and didn't work well with any of the company's software. Of course, she also tended to support general printer problems, because most users can't distinguish between software-related and not.

When they would run out of ink, as would happen, they discovered something shocking. The cost of a new inkjet cartridge was more than they had paid for the whole printer.

Of course, I got a printer free when I bought my first Mac back in late 2000. It's still going strong, amazingly enough, but we're considering a replacement. All-in-ones have gotten rather inexpensive, especially of the inkjet variety, and we'll probably be going that route relatively soon.

From:

kristine-smith.livejournal.com

All-in-ones have gotten rather inexpensive, especially of the inkjet variety, and we'll probably be going that route relatively soon.

Speaking as someone who likes the concept of All-In-Ones, and indeed owns one...I'm on my third one in 6 years. I bought the first one, iirc, in 1998 or 1999, an HP OfficeJet 600. After 2.5-3 years, the paper feeder went south and I don't recall if it was an easy fix or not. I don't think it was easy, because if it had been I would have done it. I wound up shipping the thing to a techie friend, but I don't know if she ever got it going.

I bought the G85 from the HP site as a refurbished unit. It lasted about 2 years--completely died last December. Wound up getting the current model, an OfficeJet 6110.

I like having a fax machine/flatbed copier scanner available at home. But the things are about as rugged as glass hammers.

From:

alfreda89.livejournal.com

I like having a fax machine/flatbed copier scanner available at home. But the things are about as rugged as glass hammers.

I'd like one, but a 2 year lifespan is too short--I tend to use things for YEARS, and that's the way I like it. You're too patient with something at won't cooperate, though--at least for me. I had a glorious printer back in Ye Olde Days--paid $1600 for it, and that was a steal. It worked something like 10 years, but it became increasingly hard to get connective technology to work with newer computers. The print was better than anything, including a laser, but it was am IBM typeball--nothing like those little hard letters for a crisp manuscript.

I finally gave up when the converter box guaranteed to work with ANYTHING turned out to be a lie--they had forgotten, you see, that some people bought the parallel cards (for better print transmission) not the serial cards...

The old Royal looks good on those days.