Question USB to LTP1 - parallel printer - Unknown device

[luis9191]

Hello!

I have a LaseJet 1100 (yeah oldie) with LTP1 cable and a converter to USB. But with Win10 updates is no longer recognized.

I can't find the right converter drivers (IEEE, DB25, and so on) , although I do have the printer x64 drivers and it used to work greatly!

What can I do to make USB converter compatible?

 

[hedwar2011]

Unfortunately you may not be able to. If it wasn't designed to work with Windows 10 your only option would be to go to the manufacturer's site for the converter and see if they offer something similar. You might be able to squeeze by with running it in Compatibility Mode but that won't help you with drivers unfortunately.

 

[Ralston18]

As a last resort you might try the x32 bit printer drivers.....

May or may not prove viable but worth a try.

 

[gggplaya]

If you live near a Microcenter, you can buy a comparable laserjet for $99 these days. It'll have wifi and ethernet, so you can place it anywhere and print. Being network enabled, I often print directly from my smartphone without having to boot up my computer.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/632533/hp-laserjet-mfp-m234dwe-monochrome-printer

Replacement toner is HP134A or HP134X. It's $51 for genuine toner on Ameazon, or about $26 for third party toner.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

As a last resort you might try the x32 bit printer drivers.....

May or may not prove viable but worth a try.

@Ralston18 32-bit drivers are not supported in 64-bit Windows (among some other things):

Overview of the compatibility considerations for 32-bit programs on 64-bit versions of Windows - Windows Server

Discusses the compatibility considerations and limitations for 32-bit programs that are running on 64-bit versions of Windows .

learn.microsoft.com

 

[BFG-9000]

HP themselves suggest a print server such as their J3263A 300X to convert parallel port to ethernet, for you to attach to your network. No stupid parallel-to-USB adapter drivers to worry about, just an ip address you can print to from any computer on your network, even the wifi ones. And Windows 10 cannot even see the unsupported parallel port behind it.

Be aware that the webserver GUI on it hasn't worked properly since Internet Explorer 5.5 for Win 3.1 to ME, so you have to Telnet in to adjust settings. But whaddya want for $10 shipped on eBay?

If you are extremely lucky then your parallel-to-USB device may have a chipset with built-in Linux drivers such as the Prolific 2305, in which case plugging it into the USB port of a router may well work, by simply printing to the ip address of the router.

Could be worse, you could have had a gdi printer like the LaserJet 1000, which uses host-based processing in the driver to essentially fax a raster image of the print job to the printer. Those are much harder to get working on a network.