Be Excellent To Each Other

Do new PC's still come with Parallel ports?

My Fathers PC needs replacing but his printer is fine (one of those Brother mono laser workhorses that go on forever). I suspect a new Dell won't come with a parallel port so can I get a converter or is it easier just to ditch the printer?

I haven't seen a parallel port on a PC in years. You can probably get a USB adaptor on eBay; you certainly used to be able to.

Yep, such devices seem to exist. Cheers.

All the PC's I own have parallel ports but I haven't bought a new PC in years.

I really should get a ribbon for my Amstrad DMP 2000 and fire the bitch up just so I can say I was using a 25 year old printer. If it doesn't give me an electric shock, natch.

Deal Extreme has a few options too, from Parallel>USB cables to PCI cards with a parallel port on

Things may have improved, but be prepared for a little bit of pain connecting a parallel device via the usb port. Certainly when I last tried it it did work - but only sometimes.

I used to use one (with a 1993 HP Laserjet 4L) until last year. It was mostly fine but ocasionally you'd need to disconnect and reconnect it at the USB end. This led to Windows seeing lots of USB printer ports, but once it knew which one to talk to it was fine.

If it doesn't work first time every time then a new printer may be in order.

When we get new Dells at work there's an option for a real serial and parallel port in a PCI card.

The machine I'm using now does have both on the motherboard though, and it's not *that* old.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000 ... B000K2TB4E

[edit]Ooh, hark at my referrer link! I've got this little thing at the top of the page that does it for me now. Ooooh.

Parallel ports on PCI cards seem to be the main way to go (I'd avoid USB/Parallel adapters like the plague), but even though some boards don't have a visible parallel port they still have an LPT connector on the motherboard, so you simply connect up something like this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/183448

Check the motherboard manual if unsure.

Oh, and if buying a PCI card, make sure that it has drivers for your operating system of choice.

For example, this one:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124003

has drivers for Windows 7 (not mentioned on Ebuyer's page, but documented on the manufacturer's website).

Sadly not on the Dells I am looking at.

Does the printer perchance have an ethernet port?

In the end I looked at the printer and it seems like the imaging unit is on the way out anyway (and the paper tray is broken). Whole areas of the page where there is no print. Given the cost of replacement is nearly the cost of a new printer, a new USB printer has been ordered.

Dell also specced up and ordered.