Last fall I built a new computer using a Gigabyte S-Series GA-P35-DS3L
motherboard with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two DDR2 one GB 800
MHz memory chips, and a Western Digital 500 GB SATA hard drive. I
installed Windows XP Pro and updated it to SP3. All works very well
and I have no complaints at all....except that I can not connect my
old CoStar XL Turbo Model No. 90344 label printer. This label
printer's connection cable has a parallel and a serial connector at
the computer end but this motherboard has no provisions for either of
these connectors.

What is the best approach to resolving this problem...new USB label
printer...USB to serial converter...parallel/serial add-in card???

Gordon

Antares 531 wrote:
> Last fall I built a new computer using a Gigabyte S-Series GA-P35-DS3L
> motherboard with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two DDR2 one GB 800
> MHz memory chips, and a Western Digital 500 GB SATA hard drive. I
> installed Windows XP Pro and updated it to SP3. All works very well
> and I have no complaints at all....except that I can not connect my
> old CoStar XL Turbo Model No. 90344 label printer. This label
> printer's connection cable has a parallel and a serial connector at
> the computer end but this motherboard has no provisions for either of
> these connectors.
>
> What is the best approach to resolving this problem...new USB label
> printer...USB to serial converter...parallel/serial add-in card???
>
> Gordon

The first thing you need to do is determine if you have or can download
a WinXP driver for this printer. I *think* the answer is that you can
get it from this page, although it doesn't mention the XL Turbo by name:
https://global.dymo.com/enUS/RNW/RNW...hp&p_faqid=101

Assuming that you have a spare PCI slot, I'd get a parallel port card.
They're pretty inexpensive, and probably a lot less than a new label
printer. See
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nd&Order=PRICE

You could try a USB-to-parallel converter, but you might check out the
reviews on such products on the same Newegg page above.

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

Antares 531 wrote:
> Last fall I built a new computer using a Gigabyte S-Series GA-P35-DS3L
> motherboard with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two DDR2 one GB 800
> MHz memory chips, and a Western Digital 500 GB SATA hard drive. I
> installed Windows XP Pro and updated it to SP3. All works very well
> and I have no complaints at all....except that I can not connect my
> old CoStar XL Turbo Model No. 90344 label printer. This label
> printer's connection cable has a parallel and a serial connector at
> the computer end but this motherboard has no provisions for either of
> these connectors.
>
> What is the best approach to resolving this problem...new USB label
> printer...USB to serial converter...parallel/serial add-in card???
>
> Gordon

Hard to tell from your posting whether the printer needs _both_ a serial
_and_ a parallel port. That seems quite odd but makers have probably done
more peculiar things. But I'd advise against going the USB route if you can
avoid it -- things can get pretty sticky if the ports are expected to do
anything the least bit odd. Instead, I'd try something like this:

http://www.softio.com/map950pcidual16950%2Bprinter.htm

Since it uses chips that have been around since the dark ages of W95 (or
before) it seems a safer bet that drivers will be found to work with this.

John McGaw
http://johnmcgaw.com

On Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:13:47 -0500, Antares 531
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Last fall I built a new computer using a Gigabyte S-Series GA-P35-DS3L
>motherboard with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two DDR2 one GB 800
>MHz memory chips, and a Western Digital 500 GB SATA hard drive. I
>installed Windows XP Pro and updated it to SP3. All works very well
>and I have no complaints at all....except that I can not connect my
>old CoStar XL Turbo Model No. 90344 label printer. This label
>printer's connection cable has a parallel and a serial connector at
>the computer end but this motherboard has no provisions for either of
>these connectors.
>
>What is the best approach to resolving this problem...new USB label
>printer...USB to serial converter...parallel/serial add-in card???
>
>Gordon
>
Thanks, Lem and John for your suggestions. I bought a Manhattan Serial
PCI card with two external DB9 ports this afternoon. It was easy to
install and get set up...works fine.

Thanks, Gordon