USB only printer to Parallel only PC (1 Viewer)

[Jassen M. West]

The place I work at just bought a new printer. The problem is the printer has a usb connection and the PC that its going to connect to has Windows NT installed. The PC does have usb ports in the back but microsoft chose not to support usb in windows NT.
The printer does have a network connection so I am going to try using a hub and instead of having the printer run on the network through the pc have the printer run on the network by itself. It would be much easier if one of two options was possible. One- a cable that is USB to Parallel (the parallel has to connect to the back of the pc. Two - Make USB work in Windows NT (without paying $40 to B-Square or Jungo as I feel USB should have been supported in NT) $40 isn't much I know but we are going to do a whole office upgrade a little later this year so the cheaper the better.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Why not just plug the printer into a PC that does support USB and then just share it on the network. You'd have to make sure the printer PC was running when you wanted to print but it wouldn't cost you anything.

 

[Chris Hovanic]

i have a belkin usb to LPT adapter. Not sure they make it anymore. this is what I found on their site Click the link right here!!!!

or you can always get a USB PCI card.

Scratch that... yea NT4 will not support USB so Im not sure if the Belkin product will work or not.

Plug the thing on into the network... that way everyone on the network can have access to the printer. Its the only way to go.

Good luck

 

[Jassen M. West]

I would plug into another PC on the network but they are all NT computers. The belkin link has the process going the wrong way. From LPT printer to usb PC. I need USB printer to LPT PC port. Thanks for the thoughts, anyone else?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Call the dealer and see if you can swap the printer for a comparable model that has both parallel and USB connections. Or spend the $40. Regardless of what you "feel", NT does not support USB and it isn't going to, since it is basically an unsupported product at this point. It is odd that they released a version of Win98 with USB support and not NT, but wishing or being unhappy about that won't change the facts. So if replacing the printer isn't an option then paying the nice folks who came up with a software solution to your problem is probably your best and cheapest alternative. I can't imagine any hardware solution that wouldn't be more costly, and $40 is a drop in the bucket, even if it is just going to tide you over to a more extensive (and expensive) upgrade. It is either that or let the printer collect dust until you upgrade. If you put it that way to you boss I'll be somebody finds the $40 real quick. But my first call would be to whoever you bought the printer from.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Another option would be to upgrade your computers to Windows 2000. Microsoft ceased support for NT 4.0 in 2004 -- 2K will be supported until 2010.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

would include an operating system upgrade to (probably) Windows XP and/or hardware upgrades.

Regards,

Joe