USB to Parallel Adapter

[Aldingo]

Question about USB to Parallel Adapter: I want get thermal POS printer with parallel interface, like this
sample:
http://swiftautoid.com/manage/images/2010613151212.jpg
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/7215/freeshippingparallelpor.jpg

I want connect POS printer to notebook which have USB ports only, will the printer work if connect it via
USB to Parallel Adapter Cable, sample:
http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/category=USB+to+Parallel+Adapters

There are noted that this cable will not work with non-printer type parallel devices. Not sure is the thermal
POS printer a "non-printer type parallel device"?

Regards

 

[pjp]

Question about USB to Parallel Adapter: I want get thermal POS printer
with parallel interface, like this
sample:
http://swiftautoid.com/manage/images/2010613151212.jpg
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/7215/freeshippingparallelpor.jpg

I want connect POS printer to notebook which have USB ports only, will the
printer work if connect it via
USB to Parallel Adapter Cable, sample:
http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/category=USB+to+Parallel+Adapters

There are noted that this cable will not work with non-printer type
parallel devices. Not sure is the thermal
POS printer a "non-printer type parallel device"?

Regards

Suspect it's find out from manufacturer or else insure seller has a return
policy and try it. Can't be too common a thing to want but at same time
seems like it's not a first try.

 

[David H. Lipman]

Question about USB to Parallel Adapter: I want get thermal POS printer with parallel
interface,
like this sample:
http://swiftautoid.com/manage/images/2010613151212.jpg
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/7215/freeshippingparallelpor.jpg

I want connect POS printer to notebook which have USB ports only, will the printer work
if
connect it via USB to Parallel Adapter Cable, sample:
http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/category=USB+to+Parallel+Adapters

There are noted that this cable will not work with non-printer type parallel devices.
Not
sure is the thermal POS printer a "non-printer type parallel device"?

Regards

What is the make & model of the POS Printer ?

It is a DB25 Female interface which makes it a bit odd. This looks like a good fit.
http://www.byterunner.com/byterunne...ser-id=/password=/exchange=/exact_match=exact

However the biggest problem would be the OS driver to actually print to it.

 

[Aldingo]

What is the make & model of the POS Printer ?

It is a DB25 Female interface which makes it a bit odd. This looks
like a good fit.
http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/product_name=CBL-IEEE-USB25/user-i
d=/password=/exchange=/exact_match=exact

However the biggest problem would be the OS driver to actually print
to it.

 

[David H. Lipman]

-------------------

manufacturer is Gainscha Auto ID Co. Ltd, model Gprinter GP-5860III

http://www.gainscha.com.cn/download.asp?lan=zh-en&skin=4&id=4

It looks like you are covered.

Let us know how you make out.

 

[Aldingo]

It looks like you are covered.

Let us know how you make out.

-----------

If connect this adapter cable to PC with Win XP or Win 7, there is no need to install drivers?
I just plan purchase this POS printer.

Regards,
Aldingo

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

Question about USB to Parallel Adapter: I want get thermal POS printer with parallel interface, like this
sample:
http://swiftautoid.com/manage/images/2010613151212.jpg
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/7215/freeshippingparallelpor.jpg

I want connect POS printer to notebook which have USB ports only, will the printer work if connect it via
USB to Parallel Adapter Cable, sample:
http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/category=USB+to+Parallel+Adapters

There are noted that this cable will not work with non-printer type parallel devices. Not sure is the thermal
POS printer a "non-printer type parallel device"?

Regards

The answer is: Maybe.
If the driver or the printer does not require two-way com between
printer and computer, it will work.
Some do, some don't. The older and dumber the printer the better
the chances of it working.
At $8 USD for a converter it may be worth a try.

 

[David H. Lipman]

-----------

If connect this adapter cable to PC with Win XP or Win 7, there is no need to install
drivers? I just plan purchase this POS printer.

Regards,
Aldingo

No you must install the printer drivers for the OS to work with the printer.

 

[David H. Lipman]

The USB to parallel converter may require a driver (I don't know if such will already be
included in Windows).

If the printer would have needed a driver if it was connected to a real parallel port,
then it will still need one if connected via an adapter; if not, not.

I presume POS means point-of-sale; if _all_ that can do is print standard text, then
"generic" will probably do. If it can do things like logos, double-height text, etc.,
then it will need a driver, though I'd be slightly surprised if it won't work as one of
the standard ones (mostly EPSON) that are built into Windows.

The USB to parallel converter should Plug 'n Play w/o drivers in XP and above.

 

[BillW50]

In David H. Lipman typed:

The USB to parallel converter should Plug 'n Play w/o drivers in XP
and above.

Well I wouldn't think so. As I never seen them work that way yet.
Although I have more experience with those USB to serial adapters
myself. As I rarely use those parallel ones nowadays.

 

[David H. Lipman]

In David H. Lipman typed:

Well I wouldn't think so. As I never seen them work that way yet. Although I have more
experience with those USB to serial adapters myself. As I rarely use those parallel ones
nowadays.

I have a Belkin F5U002 that works as purported. Albeit it is USB to Centronics vs. USB to
DB25.

 

[BillW50]

In

I have a Belkin F5U002 that works as purported. Albeit it is USB to
Centronics vs. USB to DB25.

I would guess it depends on the chipset the adapter uses. Because the
ones I had used didn't work with XP without a driver. I never tried
parallel with Windows 7. And I'll check later today if my Windows 7
needs one for the USB to serial adapter.

 

[SC Tom]

In

I would guess it depends on the chipset the adapter uses. Because the ones I had used didn't work with XP without a
driver. I never tried parallel with Windows 7. And I'll check later today if my Windows 7 needs one for the USB to
serial adapter.

I haven't tried a USB to parallel adaptor since early XP days, but my USB to Serial adaptor requires a driver on both my
XP and Win7 PCs. I use it to record data from my ODBC code reader.

 

[David H. Lipman]

In

I would guess it depends on the chipset the adapter uses. Because the ones I had used
didn't work with XP without a driver. I never tried parallel with Windows 7. And I'll
check later today if my Windows 7 needs one for the USB to serial adapter.

That is a very true statement.

Serail is a totally different matter. Most of the time these USB to serial converters
create virtual COM ports. Most software however look for COM1 ~ COM34 and not COM ports

COM4.

Often the software expects to see IRQ3 or IRQ4 and I/O ports; 3F8, 2F8, 3E8 or 2E8

 

[SC Tom]

I haven't tried a USB to parallel adaptor since early XP days, but my USB to Serial adaptor requires a driver on both
my XP and Win7 PCs. I use it to record data from my ODBC code reader.

That should be "OBD2 code reader." Don't know where I got ODBC; haven't been there in at least ten years

 

[BillW50]

In

I would guess it depends on the chipset the adapter uses. Because the
ones I had used didn't work with XP without a driver. I never tried
parallel with Windows 7. And I'll check later today if my Windows 7
needs one for the USB to serial adapter.

Okay I looked for the USB to serial driver and it isn't installed on
this Windows 7 machine. So I plugged in my USB to serial adapter and
Windows 7 knew it was an USB/serial controller, but complained that
couldn't find a driver.

Checked under the Device Manager and sure enough, it wasn't operating
due to the lack of a driver. Checked the COM ports and no new COM ports
were there either. So for this chipset at least, Windows 7 still needs a
driver.

 

[BillW50]

That is a very true statement.

Serail is a totally different matter. Most of the time these USB to serial converters
create virtual COM ports. Most software however look for COM1 ~ COM34 and not COM ports

Often the software expects to see IRQ3 or IRQ4 and I/O ports; 3F8, 2F8, 3E8 or 2E8

I just tried it. And Windows cannot doing anything with it without a
proper driver. It can't even create a virtual COM port without the driver.

 

[David H. Lipman]

I just tried it. And Windows cannot doing anything with it without a proper driver. It
can't even create a virtual COM port without the driver.

Like I wrote, serial is a totally different matter

 

[BillW50]

Okay I looked for the USB to serial driver and it isn't installed on
this Windows 7 machine. So I plugged in my USB to serial adapter and
Windows 7 knew it was an USB/serial controller, but complained that
couldn't find a driver.

I don't think Windows _did_ know what it was: it may have said "USB to
serial controller found", but that is likely a string of characters read
from the chips in the device - it doesn't know what they _mean_. (It
could have said "arthroscopic pengulator found" - doesn't mean it knows
what one is.)[/QUOTE]

I thought about for a tenth of a second and it became so obvious that
you are indeed correct. ;-)

Another behavior that supports your statement, is at least under XP...
as if you plug it into a different USB port than it was already
installed before, it asks for the driver again. So once you install the
driver again and again for all USB ports, now it is happy. Is this common?

Another interesting thing before I got one of these USB-serial adapters
was I thought I could have as many of them connected at a time. And I
bought like a dozen of them. Well guess what? The driver only works with
the first one plugged in and ignores the others. My guess this is a
limitation of the way the driver was written. As I would think Windows
would support many of them as long as the driver did.