Recently had a need to start using ye olde laser printer (Apple Laserwriter) and find that current MOBO doesn't have a LPT socket on rear, but needs an adapter cable from the 25pin socket on the mobo to a plate mounted socket. Spotted several around ,but do all MOBO makers follow a standard protocol for MOBO to rear socket connections ? It's got to be LPT parallel working as printer has apple type ports and LPT parallel port . Can't use my inkjet, as I need to have a print source that I can heat transfer to another base .( PCB design on PC, print on laser and iron on to PCB before etching)

LPT ports, that's going back a while. Anyway, from what I remember, there wasn't a standard pinout for the header cables so you may struggle to find the correct one.

Will your printer work with a USB to parallel cable?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-USB-to-DB25-Female-Port-Print-Converter-Cable-LPT-/111181710223?pt=UK_Computing_USB_Cables&hash=item19e2f2438f

 

Or just add a PCI-E card.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PCIe-PCI-E-PCI-Express-PARALLEL-IEEE1284-LPT-PRINTER-CARD-for-HP-printer-UK-FAST-/261117349695?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_InterfaceCards&hash=item3ccbce8f3f

Recently had a need to start using ye olde laser printer (Apple Laserwriter) and find that current MOBO doesn't have a LPT socket on rear, but needs an adapter cable from the 25pin socket on the mobo to a plate mounted socket. Spotted several around ,but do all MOBO makers follow a standard protocol for MOBO to rear socket connections ? It's got to be LPT parallel working as printer has apple type ports and LPT parallel port . Can't use my inkjet, as I need to have a print source that I can heat transfer to another base .( PCB design on PC, print on laser and iron on to PCB before etching)

 

Brain has finally booted up to speed.... AIUI it was usual to provide such a cable with a backplane insert along with the motherboard (back in the day). So maybe you have it? If not, they seem "cheaps" on eBay. Obviously, should match pin 1 etc. To avoid any little accidents.

 

Alternatively, plug the model of your printer in discussions.apple.com. Several topics about connecting older printers using USB around.

 

J.

Thanks both.

USB  to ----had lots of problems with the USB replacement of Serial - blood sugar meter so am going for LPT SERIAL . Apart from that, I'm running low on USB ports. Vindaloo- seem to remember there being a backplane with header cable, but only one I can find is a serial one, though this MB has a permanent serial port on board( so I assume I've hidden it too well). I never fitted it at time and the printer only runs on XP ( or at least I've not found any software to get it to run on w7) so I might look on Apple forums to see if there's software about..Seen a few(cables) on ebay ,but wondered if all MB were configured same. Closer look at MB manual shows pin 26 is blanked off, so that makes things easier.

Get an old LPT to Ethernet print server and then print over the network (wireless or otherwise) to it.

 

They're usually pretty cheap to find on ebay and can still be purchased new:

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/263586-tp-link-tl-ps110p-print-server-tl-ps110p?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=CNGY663u7cICFc3LtAodRmsAxw