Printer Cable

[Zonie]

I am trying to find a cable to work on a older cardiology machine and new printer. The connection on the machine is a DB25 Femaleand of couse the printer is USB. I have done a google search for a male DB25 to USB printer to no avail. Has anyone come across this or seen such an animal?

TIA

[Niclo Iste]

Did you mean you were looking for this?

http://www.google.com/products/catal...=0CJUBEPMCMAQ#

or perhaps this?

http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CFcQ8gIwAA#

In conjunction to using probably this with it

http://www.google.com/products/catal...=0CJYBEPMCMAQ#

[slgrieb]

Zonie, as far as I know, there aren't any products that will work for converting the serial port on the monitor to work with a USB printer. It would require some kind of hardware solution to act as a translator. If anybody makes one, it would be B&B Electronics, so you might call their sales dept.

Most likely, they are just going to need a serial printer that supports plain old ASCII characters. Sounds like a job for Dot Matrix! The Eternal Soldier. What model printer did they replace?

[Zonie]

Thanks Niclo Iste, found those to but the problem I am running into is the parallel DB25 needs to be Male to plug into the unit.

[Zonie]

Thanks slgrieb, not sure what the printer was before, it was gone when I got there. I think it was a standard deskjet with parallel cable hooked to it. Maybe I can find a printer still manufactured with parallel still built in. Time to go back to google.

[Niclo Iste]

Thanks Niclo Iste, found those to but the problem I am running into is the parallel DB25 needs to be Male to plug into the unit.

I posted both male and female, or are you talking about the 36pin end instead?

[slgrieb]

OK, I freely admit to being confused. I has assumed that the 25 pin port was a serial connection. Stupid assumption on my part, so I apologize. Anyway, it doesn't change the basic situation, except your chances of finding a working converter just hit zero if the machine uses a parallel port.

The good news is that the majority of dot matrix printers ship with a parallel interface as standard equipment, so you can most likely avoid buying a serial interface card. If the interface is indeed a parallel port. I keep emphasizing "if" because the sense I get is that you aren't 100% certain about the interface. I'd be certain about that before suggesting any printer solution. Check the manual, call the manufacturer, or whatever. Just be sure your proposed solution works before you propose it. It's OK to ask about the old printer.

I keep coming back to dot matrix printers, because I'm not sure anyone still makes LPT inkjets, while there are still all sorts of dot matrix printers out there with parallel port interfaces. However, I wouldn't ignore laser printers, including refurbished, as an alternative if noise is an issue.

[Zonie]

Thanks guys, the cardiology machine does have a parallel port connector on the back of it hence the need for the parallel cable. The doctor bought a new hp deskjet printer for it which of course is only USB therfore leading to the dillema of hunting for a cable. Maybe the Doc needs to by a new machine which allows USB. Thanks for all your help.

[futuretech]

http://www.epapersign.com/
http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha...lpt2usb.htm.en
There are a few but finding a place to get them might be hard.

[slgrieb]

Now that's really neat! Have you used one, futuretech? Quite a coincidence that the online order page lists an address in Phoenix!

[futuretech]

No i never have. I just did some google search's to see what was available. I am sure my ex boss had at least one so i figured they were out there just very hard to find.

[Zonie]

Thanks, will see if I can contact them and purchase for the Doc's office. Great find.