lpt to USB convertor cable for Linux -- Is there such an animal?
 

Hi all. I have a mobile HP Deskjet 340 printer, cute little sucker that was given to me by the local thrift store -- alas, no ink in the cartridge but that's no problem for me, I can get it to work. The prospect of portability is so tempting except the printer uses the old LPT port, no USB. So if I want to use it with my laptop I need an adaptor to go from LPT on the printer to USB on the laptop. I have checked compatibility with this printer and a desktop PC running Fedora Linux that has LPT port and it recognizes it and the drivers install okay. I have found several such adaptors and read many reviews but have not seen any that mention compatibility with Linux. A search of these forums and LinuxQuestions HCL didn't turn up anything. Does anybody know of an LPT to USB adaptor like this that is supported by Linux? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Tiger Direct has them: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...lel%20Adapter#

Note I'm not recommending Tiger Direct, though I have found them reliable.

This is a hardware issue. The OS platform shouldn't matter.

I had found this thread:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...rinter-936057/
in which was noted there is some circuitry that probably required a driver, that's why I asked. Newegg has an expresscard adapter for this, should be faster, right?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16839328013
Thank you for your reply.

If you buy a cheap one it will most likely have a standard chip which should be supported by any recent OS.

Both, USB and Expresscard will be way faster than the parallel connection, so this doesn't matter at all. Also, keep in mind tha the Expresscard slot also contains an USB interface, so it is possible that the Expresscard also uses USB.

I found one cheap here:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-2-0...le-100cm-23202
Looking at the reviews, one posted 11/12/2011 says it works right out of the box with Fedora. So I'll mark this thread SOLVED. Thanks to all replies. Attached is a photo of the device.

That makes sense. It's better to be too cautious than not cautious enough, especially where safety or money are involved.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I've never had to use such a cable, so I can't really answer the rest of your questions. I'm glad more knowledgeable persons have joined the thread.

Thank you for your kind reply. I have attached a small pic of the innards of the device to which I linked. Note the black round mound to the left. My experience with electronics tells me that is a surface mounted chip covered in a hard material that helps disapate heat. And it has the added benefit of hiding the chip number, in some cases -- or maybe that's my paranoia creeping through. That said, the device does play well with Linux and in the future will allow me to keep using my trusty HP Laserjet 3.

It is also possible to connect the printer to the desktop and share it with cups and print using your network, assuming you have your pc and laptop connected to the same network simultaneously.

You could as a extra install wake on lan on the pc so that if you want to print on the printer you can start your pc from your laptop.

Yes, thank you for that, I have WOL and it's a nice feature. What I want from this printer though is the portability, to have the option of taking it with me and my laptop for printing at other locations. The little printer uses a battery pack that just so happens to be the exact same battery my old RCA video camera uses! So I wouldn't need power cords, just the adapter cord from printer to laptop. I just like having the option, it appeals to me -- whether I ever use it or not.