nad_masters's Full Review: Belkin (F5U002) (KFF-128) USB Cable
More and more computers nowadays are letting go of old legacy ports, which includes the serial and parallel ports. All laptops already shed them, since they take up too much space. USB does the same job more or less, takes up less room, and is much faster than the old ports of yore.
But what happens if you have a printer that only works with a parallel port that is still very serviceable? Seems like a waste to chuck it and buy a new one that uses USB. That's where Belkin's USB to Parallel Printer Adapter cable comes into play.
Belkin F5U002 USB to Parallel Printer Adapter Cable Belkin's adapter cable isn't just a simple cable with two different ends. It includes circuitry to translate parallel port signals to USB, and vice versa. Thus, you will need drivers for your operating system to get it to work.
The cable itself is about 4 feet long, which isn't too short, but isn't exactly lengthy either.
It comes with a mini CD that contain drivers for Windows 98 and Me. I don't have any PCs running these old OSes, so I have no installation experience with it, but it's good to know for those who do.
It is called a printer adapter cable because the other end isn't a parallel port connector letting you hook up parallel devices such as an old Zip Drive (remember those?). Nope. The end is a Centronics connector that will fit only on parallel port printers. This make the cable very specific for printers, not much else. Sorry.
Installation Thankfully, if you use Windows XP, Vista, 7, Server 2003, and 2008, the drivers are already built into Windows. Just plug it in and it will detect a new virtual USB printer device. Under Printers and Faxes (in XP), a new USB001 port will appear, ready to assign to your printer. This is if you didn't connect your printer and just connect the cable by itself first, or if your printer was off when you connect the cable to your PC.
The easiest way to install it is to hook it up to your printer first, turn the printer on, then plug it in an available USB. Then, you just install your printer driver like you normally do. Windows will detect the adapter first, install the built-in driver, then will see that there is a new printer and will ask for drivers (unless it's already built-in).
It's all very easy!
For Mac users (I'm a new Mac head), it simply does not work. Mac OS X 10.5.6 doesn't even react to me plugging the cable into the USB port.
I'm not sure what will happen if you're running a Linux OS, however. In Use Once installed, it's trouble-free. You don't even think about it. That's how an adapter should be, really. And the fact that it looks like a cable (no box of circuitry - it's probably in the fat parallel connector somewhere) makes it look that much more simplistic. Verdict If you have a parallel port printer that you just don't want to get rid of yet, but your PC or laptop only have USB ports, this is the perfect "cable" for you. It costs about $20 at most office supply retail stores, and probably less online such as NewEgg and Amazon.
Most of these "still good" printers are expensive laser printers, so it makes sense to keep them. However, if you have a cheap ink jet printer, you can get a USB-based ink jet printer thats probably barely twice the price of this cable (around $50 or less if you know where to look).
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