Dekcell CPA-1029 USB to DB25 (Female) Parallel Printer Adapter Cable

Tried connecting my HP Scanjet 5100C using this. New PC keeps saying it is a printer port and not an imaging hardware. Googled looking for some way to get it going - no luck. CD is useless as is the lack of any instructions on the package.

This product came without any instructions except those buried on the small included CD. Since I didn't know which model this was and it was not labeled anywhere, not even on the packaging I had to refer to my package slip to see which model I had purchased to find the correct folder. Which didn't hold the correct driver or the correct installation document anyway. When I did find what appeared to be the correct document it had instructions only for installing in Windows 98 and talked about a driver information file that didn't exist on the CD anymore(U2PAR.INF). I was on my own.

I also have a HP laserjet 1100 like another reviewer. I have a brand new Lenovo with only USB ports. I fist tried having everything connected all at once however, Windows only recognized the USB printing support and the OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host controller but would not find my printer. I had to leave the printer disconnected with only the adapter cable plugged in. I let Windows find the adapter and load the drivers. Then I plugged in the printer to the adapter, then installed the printer manually telling it to use USB001 (Virtual Printer port for USB) this worked and I'm up and running.

I rated this product a 3 star because if I hadn't known what I was doing (I been working on computers for a long time) and with no instructions this would be near impossible for the average person to get installed without help.

I replaced my old PC with a Dell desktop running XP and with no parallel port (USB only). I purchased this adaptor, plugged it into the USB port of the PC and into the female end of the existing printer cable and followed the directions per buckeye as indicated below to get it to work. Works great, no need to buy a new printer (for now). The directions in the package and the driver/installation disc that came with the adaptor sucked and I could not figure out how to get the printer to work from what was in the box. If it had not been for the directions below, would probably be out $200 for a new printer.

thanks buckeye

Works ok with HP PSC 500, March 2, 2008
By buckeye3059 - See all my reviews

(1) I had to have the adapter plugged into my laptop's USB port and the other end of the adapter attached to my HP PSC 500 printer cable while the printer was powered OFF; (2) I turned on the printer, went to Start -> Settings -> Printers and Faxes -> Add Printer -> Add Printer Wizard and picked the "Virtual Printer Port for USB" (Thanks Crolks!) instead of the default LPT1 port. No need to use the enclosed CD.

The product was just what I needed to hook an HP LaserJet 4 to my XP box. After reading the other reviews, I decided to go ahead and give it a try as it was half the price of any other parallel to USB converter I could find.

Three things that the other reviewers pointed out that saved me a lot of frustration:
1 - No printed documentation is included, just a little CD. Looking at the contents of the CD did not prove useful as there are lots of products "documented" and it was not clear which one goes with the cable. I decide to take a guess and read the document. The instructions are written in Chinese or Japanese with English translations which range from hard to understand to unintelligible. Fortunately, there was nothing on the disc that I needed anyway.

2 - Plug the cable directly into the computer. I first tried to use my USB 2.0 hub but just got an error that the USB device was not recognized. Because of the other review, I plugged it directly into the computer with the printer attached and powered up. The USB device was recognized immediately and the drivers load with no problems.

3 - I then had to go into the printer port and change it from LPT1 to the unused USB port. This was not obvious but was also commented in another review.

Thanks to Amazon and the previous reviewers for making this a fine purchase. The product works well enough but the documentation is only useful for the small amount of humor that can be derived from trying to read it.

A note about Linux. I was able to get this to work with CUPS running on Knoppix, a Linux distribution, by selecting "Other Printer Type" and entering the URI "parallel:/dev/usb/lp0".

Doesnt work at all for windows XP.

The divers included arent even FOR the device.

Windows reports and error:

Files not specific to device.

Does this even include all lines? Or is it just TX/RX for printing?