New laptop, direct scan cable wont fit!

K

KillrV6

Former owner
Joined
May 22, 2002
got my direct scan in the mail today. take it out of the box, plug things in and it turns out that the "printer cable" style cable that it comes with, the end conector is too big for the new style smaller printer cable port on my brand new dell. what do i do??

is there an adapter out there???

:confused:


-Thanks
 
The printer (or LPT) port is always 25p and the serial port is always 9p. No other. And the Dell laptops has only standard ports. What model of Dell is it? (I´m a Dell SP)
 
My new Dell laptop has neither serial nor parallel ports. Dell has been proactive in getting away from those remnants of old technology...

I noticed when I was ordering this thing that Dell did offer a "port replicator" that plugs into one of the USB ports, and gives serial and parallel connections via the USB.

There's a computer place not too far from me that has this same port replicator for a good bit cheaper than Dell. I'm headed over there "one of these days" to pick it up, and at that time I'll be seeing if it works with DS. I really need it for some other stuff, if it works with DS that will just be a bonus.

What I'm going to get is:
"Targus USB Port Replicator
With this USB port replicator hub a single USB connection to Windows computers provides instant attachment
to the accessories you use most: mice, keyboards, printers, PDA's, scanners, speakers, cameras, telephones,
joysticks and other items.
Price: $ 59.99"

At least that's what I think I need, if anyone knows different speak up!

John
 
What I've found with some of these replicators and adapters is that depending on the chipset and drivers, they may or may not do a perfect job of emulating the port.

With the serial USB ones, sometimes they won't support 1200 baud correctly ... or anything other than the standard 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, etc. baud rates. A true serial port supports any power of 2 (including 8192 and 14000). As a result, they work pretty good for most things, but for specific applications (like TurboLink) sometimes they don't support what they need to.

I've also seen problems with them correctly replicating the CTS, DTR, RTS, CD signals as well.

Haven't messed with the parallel port ones, so it'll be interesting to see! I'd love to hear that this one works for everything!
 
its a brand new dell inspiron laptop , i think 5100? ill hafto recheck, my home computer is covered with plastic at the moment (painters) so im not near my laptop.

im looking on line, doing searches for this sort of stuff, but i cant
seem to find anything for a 25 pin parallel port. the only ones i find are 30 pin, and this is with the USB male end on the other side. i dont think that will work. there has gotta be a way!!

any more ideas??:(
 
JDEstill >>> You have one of the super light and slim laptops. These are made for light travel and no accesories. You need external CD or floppy. This is why You don´t have any ports on it.

KillrV6 >>> The 30pin is an very old type of serial port. I can´t even remember when they where used. I don´t even recall them on the early pentium machines. It will never work with the paralell port, even with an adapter. Are You sure You´ve got the right cable, or have You bought it used?
 
Hmmmm... I've NEVER seen a 30 pin serial OR parallel port. (And I've been doing comm stuff for more years than I care to remember ... I remember 14MHz 8080s being the HOT ticket!)

DB25s and DB9s have been pretty standard for many years (even for the 8080s).

The Mac uses a barrel type of serial connector (and no parallel port).

The old workstations (Sun, Unix, etc.) uses the DB25 for either serial or parallel ports (RS232).
 
Originally posted by KillrV6
.....but what does it all meen :(
Click to expand...

You must have gotten the wrong cable. I can´t see any other explanation.

kenmosher >>> Ahh, the 8080 wasn´t yesterday, groovy things. Some modem´s used the 30 pin serial connecter. Some vendor´s had that on their PC`s. Otherwise You bought a ISA-card or a 30p->9p serial adapter.
 
gotten the wrong cable? what do you meen?
i didnt buy a 30 pin cable. the only cable i have is the one that came with direct scan, it plugs in to the modual so i dont think its the wrong one. it just dosent fit my laptop, and i need to find a way to make it fit :confused:
 
oh sorry i guess my upper post was kinda confusing. the cable i have is a 25 pin. what i was saying is that the only conectors
i could find for sale on the internet were 30 pin to usb.

today i ordered a USB replacator so we will see how that goes
i guess. ill let you all know
 
Ahh, now the fog is lifting and everything is clear. The cable is a standard 25p paralell, but the Dell Inspiron 5100 doesn´t have any ports integrated. You´ll need some kind of replicator to convert the USB signal. I´m positive it´ll work with the one You´ve ordered.

Good luck
/Andreas
 
thank you so much guys! u dont know how happy that makes me,
having a little shureaty in my investment lol

thanks
-Evan
 
Originally posted by Lunkan
JDEstill >>> You have one of the super light and slim laptops. These are made for light travel and no accesories. You need external CD or floppy. This is why You don´t have any ports on it.
Click to expand...

Not really, I've got the same Inspirion 5100 that KillrV6 has. It has a built in CD-RW/DVD, 2 USB ports, built in network card, it's got an IEEE 1394 (FireWire I think?) port, a video out port and an S-Video port (I guess to use the DVD player with a TV). It's not exactly what I would call super light and slim! But it is very nice...

No floppy drive, no serial or parallel ports, but like I said, I think this is just Dell being proactive and getting away from outdated tech. Which is a problem when you need a parallel port or have files still stored on a floppy disk... Heck, I've still got a few 5.25" floppies around here! And I actually had to refer to one a couple of years ago. It was tough finding a computer that still had a 5.25" drive :) Had to use the neighbors computer for that one. I did get one of those USB memory sticks, that thing is awesome! Beats an old floppy hands down! Someone shoulda thought of that one sooner.

Evan, give us an update when you get that replicator, I'll be real interested in how it works out for you.

John
 
oh yeah, Evan, maybe the USB/30 pin cables that you found were for printers? I found a cable that was supposed to be a "USB to parallel" adpater cable and sent my wife over to check it out. She said that it was to let you use an older printer that plugged into a parallel port, and that the parallel end wasn't the standard 25 pin parallel connector like you find on the back of a computer, it was the funky connector that actually plugs into the back of the printer. Haven't counted the terminals on that thing, but it could be 30 for all I know.

John
 
Yes, I mistook myself. For that I appologize. I thought You meant the L-series or the C400 first. When I looked at the new Inspiron and Latitude D-series I saw the problem.

The cable Your talking about is not the 30p connector, I guess it´s the CEN36 (the one to the right is the CEN36 and the left is standard DB25)
 
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