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Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. You won’t always be successful if an old Centronics parallel printer is swapped with a new USB printer coupled through this adapter, so make sure that you are okay with the adapter’s return policy before committing to buy it. If you will also be purchasing a new printer, you’ll need to be okay with its return policy too. That said, this adapter can be a godsend in the right circumstances.
In my case, I repair and maintain a large collection of scientific equipment that was designed to print directly to Centronics parallel printers. These scientific instruments are not attached to external computers, do not have USB ports, and there is no way to install new printer drivers. To reduce the chance of using a printer which is incompatible with the scientific equipment that was chosen for these adapter trials, I did most of my testing with an HP DeskJet 5650 color inkjet printer. In addition to having USB ports (which I had not utilized until now), DeskJet 5650 printers have Centronics parallel ports which have been working successfully for over 10 years to enable printing from a dozen of the scientific instruments that were used for testing this adapter.
For the purpose of this review, I chose to hook the printer adapter up to the parallel printer output (DB-25 connector) of an IR100 FTIR spectrometer (made in 2005) from Thermo Scientific and a DU-640 UV-Vis spectrophotometer (made in 1994) from Beckman Instruments.
The IR100 user interface provides only two choices for printer type – PCL Laser and PCL Inkjet. I selected PCL Inkjet, as that is what I’ve always used through the Centronics parallel port of the DeskJet 5650 printers. The IR100 printed perfectly when coupled to the printer’s USB port using this Parallel to USB adapter, and I consider this initial part of my testing to have been a great success.
The DU-640 user interface provides seven choices for printer type – Epson FX-850, Epson LQ-510/Canon BJ-200, HP DeskJet 540/560, HP DeskJet 520, HP DeskJet 560/660C (Black), HP DeskJet 560/660C (Color), and HP LaserJet. These printers are all very old and obsolete, but I selected HP DeskJet 560/660C (Color). That is the selection we’ve always used through the Centronics parallel port of the DeskJet 5650 printers and DeskJet 6122 printers that are hooked up to our DU-640 spectrophotometers. The results I got from using the adapter between a DU-640 and the USB port of either of these two DeskJet printer models is difficult to explain. On the first day that I tested the adapter on a DU-640, it wouldn’t work with either printer. On the second day of testing, it worked great with both printers. On the third day of testing, it wouldn’t work with either again. At the end of each day, I verified that the adapter still worked fine with an IR100. I don’t understand why the adapter always worked great with an IR100 but sometimes refused to work with a DU-640; however, these results made it clear that some hardware combinations won’t be as reliable as the first pairing that I tested.
Once I had ascertained that an IR100 is a very reliable testbed for this adapter, I then checked whether our newest HP DeskJet printer would work with it. I tried printing from an IR100 to a USB-only DeskJet 1010, but the printer didn’t do anything. A bit of research showed that this is because the DeskJet 1010’s printer language is PCL 3GUI, which is incompatible with earlier versions of Printer Command Language such as the PCL 3 used by the DeskJet 6122 and the PCL 3E used by the DeskJet 5650. If the printer language of the sending device cannot be properly understood and implemented by the printer, you shouldn’t expect this adapter to correct that incompatibility.
As further proof of how critical it is to choose a printer that is capable of understanding and implementing what it receives from the sending device, consider the following situation involving non-HP printers that can connect to an IR100 without needing this adapter. Using just a DB-25 to Centronics-36 parallel cable, I attached an Epson C88+ to an IR100. Despite the fact that the C88+ has a Centronics parallel port, the only thing it would print out was gibberish. When I tried the same thing with a Canon PIXMA iP4000 (which also has a Centronics parallel port), nothing printed at all.
I can no longer buy new HP printers equipped with Centronics parallel ports, and it would be a shame to retire instruments that cost over $11,000 each due to failed printers. It is my hope that at least some new USB-only printers can fully support the output of our IR100 spectrometers, and perhaps our DU-640 spectrophotometers too. The next time one of our DeskJet 5650 or DeskJet 6122 printers fails, I’ll want to use one of these adapters to couple the scientific instrument to a USB printer that can actually understand it. If any of you know of a currently available printer model that might do the trick, please mention it in a comment to this review.
| Item model number | 8541673391 |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 5.6 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 6 x 2 x 2 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 6 x 2 x 2 inches |
| Manufacturer | AK Nord |
| ASIN | B0015EP2JO |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | May 17, 2005 |
