How well do USB -> parallel adapters work for printers?

Greg Barniskis nalists at scls.lib.wi.us
Wed Oct 19 07:06:46 PDT 2005


Eric Schuele wrote:
> Bill Moran wrote:
> 
>> This will be FreeBSD 5.4 machine.
>>
>> I need to hook a printer to a server (actually, it's a "plotter", an HP
>> inkjet plotter).  The server doesn't have a parallel port, and the 
>> printer
>> doesn't have a USB port.
>>
>> The guy who provides our hardware recommended a USB -> parallel adapter,
>> but I've got no experience with these.  I've been warned about USB ->
>> serial adapaters and how the translation isn't always 100%, so I'm
>> trying to gather some information before I go forward with this plan.
>>
>> Anyone use one of these?  How well do they work in general?  How well
>> do they work under FreeBSD?
>>
> 
> There are definitely 'some issues' with USB -> Parallel port adapters. 
> I've had good luck printing, but obviously others have had plenty of bad 
> luck.  And they (the adapters) definitely have difficulties with other 
> parallel devices (think security dongles, data acquisition, etc).

Yes, there are 'some issues' and they are by no means limited to 
FreeBSD. I have seen numerous odd behaviors from all kinds of 
USB-to-somethingelse adapters under Windows, too. If you have to buy 
an adapter, get it from a vendor that lets you return products if 
they don't work out in your specific environment, and do a lot of 
stress testing as soon as you connect things up.

> I believe there are some PCMCIA -> parallel adapters that should work 
> better.  Though they are a bit pricey.

More basic PCI parallel port cards are very common throughout my 
network, and we get them for under $15, IIRC. As cheap (or cheaper) 
and far more consistently well-behaved than most USB adapters.


-- 
Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator
South Central Library System (SCLS)
Library Interchange Network (LINK)
<gregb at scls.lib.wi.us>, (608) 266-6348


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