reverse Parallel-USB cables?

[[email protected]]

I've seen many USB cables that claim to allow one to connect an older
parallel port printer to one's USB port.

However, does the reverse exist? Does a cable exist that allows one to
connect new USB stuff (digital cameras, etc.) to an older machine
(which has no USB ports) via its parallel port?

No luck finding anything so far.

Michael

 

[Jeff Findley]

I've seen many USB cables that claim to allow one to connect an older
parallel port printer to one's USB port.

I've got one of the above at home, but don't expect it to work with older
software that expects to talk to the PC's parallel port directly. It does
work for old printers using Windows sofware which goes through the Windows
printer drivers.

However, does the reverse exist? Does a cable exist that allows one to
connect new USB stuff (digital cameras, etc.) to an older machine
(which has no USB ports) via its parallel port?

No luck finding anything so far.

I don't think that such a thing exists. How in the world would such a thing
work anyway?

What is it you're trying to do?

Jeff

 

[[email protected]]

I've got one of the above at home, but don't expect it to work with older
software that expects to talk to the PC's parallel port directly. It does
work for old printers using Windows sofware which goes through the Windows
printer drivers.


I don't think that such a thing exists. How in the world would such a thing
work anyway?

Hmm... doesn't exist yet, you say? Maybe I should make a mad dash for
the patent office... (grin)

What is it you're trying to do?

Connect a new USB anything (digital camera, scanner, printer, etc.) to
an ancient laptop, with only a parallel port. Sure data transfer will
be slow... but better than nothing.

The market demand for such a beast would probably be pretty small
though...

Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety"
- B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)

Michael

 

[Homer J Simpson]

I've seen many USB cables that claim to allow one to connect an older
parallel port printer to one's USB port.

However, does the reverse exist? Does a cable exist that allows one to
connect new USB stuff (digital cameras, etc.) to an older machine
(which has no USB ports) via its parallel port?

How would that driver work? Many of those on the old 8 bit computer lists
would like such a device, but so far no one has come up with a design,
although there are chips that seem to have potential.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

I've seen many USB cables that claim to allow one to connect an older
parallel port printer to one's USB port.

However, does the reverse exist? Does a cable exist that allows one to
connect new USB stuff (digital cameras, etc.) to an older machine
(which has no USB ports) via its parallel port?

No luck finding anything so far.

Michael

Where are you going to find drivers for its OS if the computer is
that old ?


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[[email protected]]

Where are you going to find drivers for its OS if the computer is
that old ?

That would be the deal killer.

I do have an ancient 486 laptop though that runs Win95. (Slowly.)
Floppy drive and hard disk only. Doesn't seem to take the newer PCMCIA
cards. (My PCMCIA wifi card doesn't work with it.)

I had envisioned the Parallel/USB adapter for my PII-366 mhz laptop,
but then I remembered it DOES have a USB port, but only a USB 1.1 port.
Might be more practical just to try getting a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card for
it.

Might make an interesting senior / Master's EE project though...?

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Michael Darrett
Northern California

 

[[email protected]]

How would that driver work? Many of those on the old 8 bit computer lists
would like such a device, but so far no one has come up with a design,
although there are chips that seem to have potential.

File transfer only...? The device might have a linux of some sort on
it. (Fedora Core 4 had no trouble downloading pictures from my Canon
digital camera.)

But, for older computers, (before ECP and EPP), is the parallel port
data path one-way only? In that case, nevermind...

Michael

 

[[email protected]]

However, does the reverse exist? Does a cable exist that allows one to

I don't think that such a thing exists. How in the world would such a thing
work anyway?

Proberbly like those parallel port attached network interfaces back in the
days.. Should not be a huge voodo to make a similar usb variant.

I think this can be accomplished with some usb-phy + fpga and hacker power
supply setup. Some standard developer board could possible do this almost out
of the box, minus the size
But too small market..

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

That would be the deal killer.

I do have an ancient 486 laptop though that runs Win95. (Slowly.)
Floppy drive and hard disk only. Doesn't seem to take the newer PCMCIA
cards. (My PCMCIA wifi card doesn't work with it.)

I had envisioned the Parallel/USB adapter for my PII-366 mhz laptop,
but then I remembered it DOES have a USB port, but only a USB 1.1 port.
Might be more practical just to try getting a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card for
it.

Might make an interesting senior / Master's EE project though...?

The only Win 95 that supported USB was the final release, and I've
never found a Win 95 USB driver for anything that I've owned.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[[email protected]]

The only Win 95 that supported USB was the final release, and I've
never found a Win 95 USB driver for anything that I've owned.

Isn't there supposed to be some sort of third-party add-on to get USB
support in Win95?

The Win98 drivers wouldn't work then, eh?

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Isn't there supposed to be some sort of third-party add-on to get USB
support in Win95?

The Win98 drivers wouldn't work then, eh?

I've tried them but I always got that rude message, "This driver only
works on Win 98". Some demanded 98 SE. Adding the extras to make it
Win 98 will really slow down an old computer, as well. Then you'll
probably need to update I.E. several levels, too. I had a friend over
the other day who needed IE5.01 or higher to install street mapping
software in a laptop. After Win 98 was installed and the I.E. was
updated, the thing was so slow it wouldn't run the software.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[[email protected]]

I've tried them but I always got that rude message, "This driver only
works on Win 98". Some demanded 98 SE. Adding the extras to make it
Win 98 will really slow down an old computer, as well. Then you'll
probably need to update I.E. several levels, too. I had a friend over
the other day who needed IE5.01 or higher to install street mapping
software in a laptop. After Win 98 was installed and the I.E. was
updated, the thing was so slow it wouldn't run the software.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Could he have used Firefox...?

 

[Sjouke Burry]

File transfer only...? The device might have a linux of some sort on
it. (Fedora Core 4 had no trouble downloading pictures from my Canon
digital camera.)

But, for older computers, (before ECP and EPP), is the parallel port
data path one-way only? In that case, nevermind...

Michael

At least 8 bit out , 5 bit in, thats what a laplink
cable used for datatransfer.
If you have a bios choice: choose SPP (Standard Par. Port.)
Also when you fiddle with those bits, write zero to
port 0, 1 and 2,to disable the hardware interrupt.
If you do it from XP, disable the lp port in hardware, or
XP will peek at the port every few seconds.
And use userport.zip(google) to get port access.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Could he have used Firefox...?

The program refused to install if anything older than IE5.01 was on
the hard drive. The microsoft website refused to allow him to download
any updates because the I.E. wasn't new enough, but i dug around and
found a copy if IE5.50 on a Earthlink CDROM. It installed, then the
first CDROM of his program installed, then wouldn't install the actual
maps. I told him that he needs to install all the MS updates for Win 98
SE, but he wouldn't listen. All he wants to use it for is plotting
antenna radiation patterns for a half dozen AM broadcast stations. He
is convinced that he doesn't need the updates, because he isn't going to
use it online.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Robert Roland]

Does a cable exist that allows one to
connect new USB stuff (digital cameras, etc.) to an older machine
(which has no USB ports) via its parallel port?

I have never seen one, and I doubt one exists. There's just no market.
A USB capable computer on Ebay probably costs less than the adapter
would cost.

In theory, you could connect the two USB data lines directly to the
parallel port (both are TTL levels) and bit-bang the whole USB
protocol. A programming job from hell, but when you're done, you'll
have learned a lot about USB.

 

[Jim Thompson]

I have never seen one, and I doubt one exists. There's just no market.
A USB capable computer on Ebay probably costs less than the adapter
would cost.

In theory, you could connect the two USB data lines directly to the
parallel port (both are TTL levels) and bit-bang the whole USB
protocol. A programming job from hell, but when you're done, you'll
have learned a lot about USB.

Can't you just buy a USB card for the old PC?

...Jim Thompson

 

[jasen]

X-Face: ?)Aw4rXwN5u0~$nqKj`xPz>xHCwgi^q+^?Ri*+R(&uv2=E1Q0Zk(>h!~o2ID@6{uf8s;a+M[5[U[QT7xFN%^gR"=tuJw%TXXR'Fp~W;(T"1(739R%m0Yyyv*gkGoPA.$b,D.w:z+<'"=-lVT?6{T?=R^:W5g|E2#EhjKCa+nt":4b}dU7GYB*HBxn&Td$@f%.kl^:7X8rQWd[NTc"P"u6nkisze/Q;8"9Z{peQF,w)7UjV$c|RO/mQW/NMgWfr5*$-Z%u46"/00mx-,\R'fLPe.)^
User-Agent: slrn/0.9.8.1 (Debian)

But, for older computers, (before ECP and EPP), is the parallel port
data path one-way only? In that case, nevermind...

all PC parallel ports have atleast 5 input lines.

modern ones have bidirectional data lines.

 

[Iwo Mergler]

I've seen many USB cables that claim to allow one to connect an older
parallel port printer to one's USB port.

However, does the reverse exist? Does a cable exist that allows one to
connect new USB stuff (digital cameras, etc.) to an older machine
(which has no USB ports) via its parallel port?

No luck finding anything so far.

Michael

There are different classes of USB 'stuff'. The most common
are the "mass storage" devices. Many digital cameras, all
external harddrives and USB keys use it.

There is a IDE over parallel port protocol which has been
used in the pre-USB days to connect external harddrives
or CD-ROMS.

It would be technically possible to create a device which
maps the IDE-parallel protocol to USB mass storage. It would
consist of a USB capable computer with the appropriate USB
stack - one of the ARM-based Linux devices for instance.

Kind regards,

Iwo

 

[[email protected]]

... Does a cable exist that allows one to
connect new USB stuff (digital cameras, etc.) to an older machine
(which has no USB ports) via its parallel port?

USB is a master/slave port with power management.
So, only a device with power available can be a USB master (and
parallel ports don't have power available, generally).

Adding a USB port to an old computer is possible, and sometimes
productive.
My elderly Macintosh'es with USB are more useful by far than those
without... but there's some gotchas. In the Mac world, it's the USB 2
addon
that only works with Macs "with PCI 2.0", i.e. only with Macintosh
computers
that already have USB. All the USB 1.1 addons, which DO work, seem to
be
out of production. I was fortunate that PC Recycle had a bin I could
rummage through.