friedl@vsi.UUCP (Stephen J. Friedl) (02/28/88)
Netlanders,
Has anybody had experience driving a parallel printer
any distance with a standard 3B2 PORTS card? I know you're
not supposed to go very far but I wonder how far that is.
I am thinking about 30-40' or so and would like to know if I
am out of my mind or not. Any experiences would be helpful.
Please mail to me, and I'll summarize and post.
Thanks,
Steve
--
Life : Stephen J. Friedl @ V-Systems, Inc/Santa Ana, CA *Hi Mom*
CSNet: friedl%vsi.uucp@kent.edu ARPA: friedl%vsi.uucp@uunet.uu.net
uucp : {kentvax, uunet, attmail, ihnp4!amdcad!uport}!vsi!friedlroot@conexch.UUCP (Larry Dighera) (03/03/88)
In article <57@vsi.UUCP> friedl@vsi.UUCP (Stephen J. Friedl) writes: >Netlanders, > Has anybody had experience driving a parallel printer >any distance with a standard 3B2 PORTS card? I know you're >not supposed to go very far but I wonder how far that is. >I am thinking about 30-40' or so and would like to know if I I have successfully extended the parallel printer cable to 30 feet, but began to experience intermittent errors at 50 feet. I guess that's about the limit. -- USPS: The Consultants' Exchange, PO Box 12100, Santa Ana, CA 92712 TELE: (714) 842-6348: BBS (N81); (714) 842-5851: Xenix guest account (E71) UUCP: conexch Any ACU 2400 17148425851 ogin:-""-ogin:-""-ogin: nuucp UUCP: ...!ucbvax!ucivax!icnvax!conexch!root || ...!trwrb!ucla-an!conexch!root
pnessutt@nis.NIS.MN.ORG (Robert A. Monio) (03/04/88)
In article <57@vsi.UUCP> friedl@vsi.UUCP (Stephen J. Friedl) writes: > Has anybody had experience driving a parallel printer >any distance with a standard 3B2 PORTS card? I know you're >not supposed to go very far but I wonder how far that is. >I am thinking about 30-40' or so.... We originally had a 3B2-400 here and had our printer(s) connected in parallel. The length of the cable was about 12 feet. We found that if we went beyond 15 feet with our parallel cables that we lost data. Later, when we replaced our 3B2-400 with several NCR Tower 600's, we were faced with the problem of extending our printer lines to about 200 feet. We solved this problem by purchasing a several Parallel Boosters. The Boosters allow us to place our printers up to 1000 feet away from the Tower without losing any data. Our cost for each Booster was approximately $125.00. I would suggest that if you want to extend your parallel lines beyond 15 feet that you consider purchasing Parallel Booster(s). This will insure that you don't lose any data between the printer and your machine. Good Luck! -Bob -- "Get it out of here! I'm alergic Robert A. Monio to Popcorn!" National Information Systems, Inc. DOMAIN: pnessutt@NIS.MN.ORG UUCP : ..uunet!{amdahl,hpda,rosevax}!bungia!nis!pnessutt
rogers@ofc.Columbia.NCR.COM (H. L. Rogers) (03/05/88)
In article <1505@nis.NIS.MN.ORG> pnessutt@nis.NIS.MN.ORG (Robert A. Monio) writes: >In article <57@vsi.UUCP> friedl@vsi.UUCP (Stephen J. Friedl) writes: >> Has anybody had experience driving a parallel printer >>any distance with a standard 3B2 PORTS card? I know you're >>not supposed to go very far but I wonder how far that is. >>I am thinking about 30-40' or so.... > >We originally had a 3B2-400 here and had our printer(s) connected in >parallel. The length of the cable was about 12 feet. We found that > >Later, when we replaced our 3B2-400 with several NCR Tower 600's, we >were faced with the problem of extending our printer lines to about >200 feet. We solved this problem by purchasing a several Parallel Boosters. Parallel printer cables carry standard TTL logic signals, which can only drive 12 feet of wire safely while maintaining adequate signal margins. ____________ _____________________________________________________ | | U U | > > > > > > > > ...!rutgers! | U U | ^ ^ v | U Kentucky U K K | ^ ^ ...!gatech!mcnc!< < uvaarpa! | U Wildcats U K K | ^ ^ v v | U U K K | ^ ...!sri-unix!hplabs!< < ece-csc! | U U KK | ^ v v | UUUUUU K K | ...!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!ncr-sd!ncrcae!ofc!rogers | K K |-----------------------------------------------------| --------- K K | OR JUST TRY hl.rogers@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM | HL Rogers |_____________________________________________________| "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, when will you ever find time to do it over." - from a wise sage. Go Big Blue!
robert@pvab.UUCP (Robert Claeson) (03/08/88)
In article <1505@nis.NIS.MN.ORG> pnessutt@nis.NIS.MN.ORG (Robert A. Monio) writes: >We originally had a 3B2-400 here and had our printer(s) connected in >parallel. The length of the cable was about 12 feet. We found that >if we went beyond 15 feet with our parallel cables that we lost data. I'm running some printers about 50 feet away over the paralell interface of an Encore Annex terminal server. This can be done by using *thick* and well-shielded cables. I haven't had *any* loss of data on any of the (laser) printers.
jfh@killer.UUCP (The Beach Bum) (03/14/88)
In article <356@pvab.UUCP> robert@pvab.UUCP (Robert Claeson) writes: >In article <1505@nis.NIS.MN.ORG> pnessutt@nis.NIS.MN.ORG (Robert A. Monio) writes: > >>We originally had a 3B2-400 here and had our printer(s) connected in >>parallel. The length of the cable was about 12 feet. We found that >>if we went beyond 15 feet with our parallel cables that we lost data. > >I'm running some printers about 50 feet away over the paralell interface >of an Encore Annex terminal server. This can be done by using *thick* and >well-shielded cables. I haven't had *any* loss of data on any of the >(laser) printers. this is cheating, i know, but it works quite well. i have a laser being driven 220 miles on a parallel port. i convert the parallel interface into a serial one and feed that into a 4 channel mux. the mux in turn is connected to a 9.6KBaud modem where it comes out the other end of a leased line. the other end is the same thing in reverse, finally going into the laser. cost of the converters was $200 for the pair, plus 64KB memory. since the converters can buffer characters while the printer isn't ready, the line can transmit at close to full speed most of the time. the only real slow down comes when raster images are being sent, at which time the poor mux is swamped ... well shielded serial lines are _much_ cheaper than parallel ones and converters are available which run at 38.4KBaud (or higher?). in addition, serial can just plain go farther since the timing is less critical. - john. -- John F. Haugh II SNAIL: HECI Exploration Co. Inc. UUCP: ...!ihnp4!killer!jfh 11910 Greenville Ave, Suite 600 "You can't threaten us, we're Dallas, TX. 75243 the Oil Company!" (214) 231-0993 Ext 260