nomdenet@venera.isi.edu (A. R. White) (01/17/90)
This inquiry is for a friend who wishes to connect two PC/AT clones to a laser printer. He would like to leave the machines where they are, which leads to my first question: How long may cables for the parallel port be, both as specified in the standard (whatever that may be) and as found workable in practice? What are the signal-degradation mechanisms? Cross talk? Smearing of pulses due to cable capacitance? Clearly both clones can't be connected to the laser printer at the same time, which leads to another question: Can anybody recommend good parallel- port A-B-C switch boxes? Would any box with DB-25 connectors suffice; or do boxes designed for RS-232 applications do something funny with the grounds, which could be remedied with a screwdriver and wire cutters? Please reply directly to me; I don't follow this group. Thanks, A. R. White USC/Information Sciences Institute 4676 Admiralty Way Marina Del Rey, California 90292-6695 (213) 822-1511, x162 (213) 823-6714 facsimile ARPA: nomdenet @ ISI.edu
steve@wintermute.ucsd.edu ({Darkavich}) (01/18/90)
I have been successful at installing a 100 foot DB25-DB25 cable to an AB switch box and then another 20 feet of printer cable (DB25-CEN36). I have had no problems as of 6 months running. The AB switch box is just a standard DB25 in and out. Steve steve@ucsd.edu