Is there a limit to how long a paralel cable can be?

[Marco]

We need to run a printer cable from a computer to a printer that is about 40
meters away. We will obviously have to chain several of them together and
want to know if there will be a connection problem because of the length.
Does anyone know if we will run into a problem? Thanks for the help.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

From Dux Computer Digest [http://duxcw.com/faq/print/print.htm]:

Q. What is the "specified" maximum length of a parallel printer cable for a
PC?

A. There are two kinds widely used parallel port printer cables for PCs.
The old "standard" IBM Printer cable and the newer IEEE 1284 bi-directional
cable commonly sold today. The old IBM printer cable was a rather loose
standard having its roots with cables originally designed for Centronics
printers. It was uni-directional from the PC to the printer and had a
25-pin male DB25 connector at one end and a 36-conductor male Centronics
connector at the other end. The "standard-issue" cable was six feet. The
maximum cable length was commonly stated as 15 feet. I have operated
printers with old 20-foot IBM PC cables and some, not many, PC/printer
combinations will work with a quality 25-foot cable. There are devices
which can extend this length significantly.

Commonly available IEEE 1284 cables have a 1284 Type A, 25-pin male DB25
connector at one end and either the older 1284 Type B, 36-conducor male
Centronics connector or the newer 1284 Type C, 36-conductor Mini-Centronics
connector at the other end and are available in 6, 10, 15, 20, and 30 ft
lenghts. The specification also calls for various cable configurations with
different connector genders. The maximum specified length of a IEEE 1284
cable cable is 10 Meters (approx. 30 feet) for data transfers at rates up
to 2 Mhz (of course, this maximum requires that the ports at both ends of
the cable meet the IEEE 1284 spec as well as the cable). IEEE 1284 cables
should work with older IBM printer ports (SPP = Standard Printer Port) and
uni-directional printers.

 

[Marco]

Thanks for the quick reply.

From Dux Computer Digest [http://duxcw.com/faq/print/print.htm]:

Q. What is the "specified" maximum length of a parallel printer cable for
a
PC?

A. There are two kinds widely used parallel port printer cables for PCs.
The old "standard" IBM Printer cable and the newer IEEE 1284
bi-directional
cable commonly sold today. The old IBM printer cable was a rather loose
standard having its roots with cables originally designed for Centronics
printers. It was uni-directional from the PC to the printer and had a
25-pin male DB25 connector at one end and a 36-conductor male Centronics
connector at the other end. The "standard-issue" cable was six feet. The
maximum cable length was commonly stated as 15 feet. I have operated
printers with old 20-foot IBM PC cables and some, not many, PC/printer
combinations will work with a quality 25-foot cable. There are devices
which can extend this length significantly.

Commonly available IEEE 1284 cables have a 1284 Type A, 25-pin male DB25
connector at one end and either the older 1284 Type B, 36-conducor male
Centronics connector or the newer 1284 Type C, 36-conductor
Mini-Centronics
connector at the other end and are available in 6, 10, 15, 20, and 30 ft
lenghts. The specification also calls for various cable configurations
with
different connector genders. The maximum specified length of a IEEE 1284
cable cable is 10 Meters (approx. 30 feet) for data transfers at rates up
to 2 Mhz (of course, this maximum requires that the ports at both ends of
the cable meet the IEEE 1284 spec as well as the cable). IEEE 1284 cables
should work with older IBM printer ports (SPP = Standard Printer Port) and
uni-directional printers.

--
Ted Zieglar
"You can do it if you try."

We need to run a printer cable from a computer to a printer that is about 40
meters away. We will obviously have to chain several of them together
and
want to know if there will be a connection problem because of the length.
Does anyone know if we will run into a problem? Thanks for the help.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

We need to run a printer cable from a computer to a printer that is about 40
meters away. We will obviously have to chain several of them together and
want to know if there will be a connection problem because of the length.
Does anyone know if we will run into a problem? Thanks for the help.

You can buy a Parallel extender cable which would allow you to go up to 1200
feet in distance. It consists of a Sender, Receiver and a telephone style
cable.
I also was able to get a cable specially made which was 200 feet.


However, you really need to re-consider this set up since the parallel printer
may be too far for everyday uses.

 

[All Things Mopar]

Today Ted Zieglar commented courteously on the subject at
hand

From Dux Computer Digest
[http://duxcw.com/faq/print/print.htm]:

Q. What is the "specified" maximum length of a parallel
printer cable for a PC?

A. There are two kinds widely used parallel port printer
cables for PCs. The old "standard" IBM Printer cable and
the newer IEEE 1284 bi-directional cable commonly sold
today. The old IBM printer cable was a rather loose
standard having its roots with cables originally designed
for Centronics printers. It was uni-directional from the
PC to the printer and had a 25-pin male DB25 connector at
one end and a 36-conductor male Centronics connector at
the other end. The "standard-issue" cable was six feet.
The maximum cable length was commonly stated as 15 feet. I
have operated printers with old 20-foot IBM PC cables and
some, not many, PC/printer combinations will work with a
quality 25-foot cable. There are devices which can extend
this length significantly.

Commonly available IEEE 1284 cables have a 1284 Type A,
25-pin male DB25 connector at one end and either the older
1284 Type B, 36-conducor male Centronics connector or the
newer 1284 Type C, 36-conductor Mini-Centronics connector
at the other end and are available in 6, 10, 15, 20, and 30
ft lenghts. The specification also calls for various cable
configurations with different connector genders. The
maximum specified length of a IEEE 1284 cable cable is 10
Meters (approx. 30 feet) for data transfers at rates up to
2 Mhz (of course, this maximum requires that the ports at
both ends of the cable meet the IEEE 1284 spec as well as
the cable). IEEE 1284 cables should work with older IBM
printer ports (SPP = Standard Printer Port) and
uni-directional printers.

I'm not the OP, but this is highly useful to me in another
way, so I thanks for posting it. I've been trying for sometime
to figure out why my HP 1220C won't run bi-directionally with
Win XP SP1 and SP2 but will on Win 98 SE. I think I need to
buy a IEEE cable, as you note in the first paragraph.