Direct parallel cable

[arun17]

Hi,
I was trying to connect my laptop to my PC using a parallel cable using Direct cable connection. But it does not connect.Laptop is having Windows XP and PC is on Windows 98.Then I tried to connect two PCs using same cable (both PC on Windows 98).Still it didn't work. I want to do it using Parallel port if possible because we need to transfer the files from many PC available in our office to Laptop ,we don't have ethernet card in some PC's.
Can anyone help?

Thanks

"Knowledge is power"

 

[ctipete]

You can't use a standard "straight" through cable.... They make a special cable for this purpose (I forget the name). Maybe someone else on this forum can tell you - but if you go to your local Radio Shack I'm sure they carry it...

Good luck

 

[IRstuff]

Even if you get the special cable, you'll still need special software, like LapLink.

If your laptops have USB, you could get a USB to Ethernet converter, which seems to work reasonably well and is reasonably fast.

TTFN

 

[jbentley78]

The cable you are looking for is called a Null Modem Cable. Windows 98 has the software built into it to connect it this manner. It is labeled direct cable connection I think. It has a long time since I have done it, but you also have to remember to share the drive that you want to push data to and have file sharing turned on. I know this isn't the most concise explination, but if you need help please contact me. jbentley@tdirect.com

 

[charle]

You can also use the Interlink software from M.S. The used to come with DOS and could also be found under c:\windows\command on a Win95 machine. I could not get Direct Cable Connection working either. The only setup you have to do using Interlink is to copy the Intersvr.exe file to the PC that's going to be the host and run it. It runs in DOS.
On the host PC/Laptop copy the Interlnk.exe to your root directory and in the config.sys file insert the next line:
device=interlnk.exe . Then restart this machine and you can access the other PC from your windows explorer. The cable is the same as used with Laplink or Direct Cable. If you need to construct a cable I can supply you with the pin connections as this is not a straight cable.
If you can't find the Interlink software I can e-mail it to you as these files are only 17K and 37K.

Charle

 

[bwatson0]

As mentioned above, a null modem cable must be used. If you don't know what it is, it basically internally swaps the transmit and recieve pins (pins 2&3) as (well as the RTS and CTS pins? - can't remember that part). If you don't mind transmitting slowly, you can use Hyperterminal to transmit via the serial Com port.

Make sure you set the Hyperterminal program on both PCs to match (baud rate, data bits, parity, stop bits). Your limitation is the speed of the slowest serial port on either of the PCs.

 

[etarhan]

It's sad to see that most people are answering without hearing the question.

I assume that
- XP supports direct cable connection,
- you are going through the steps correctly to establish a connection (it's really hard to do otherwise because it's so simple)

Your parallel cable should be a specially made one. This is mainly because the connectors at the ends of a standard parallel cable are not alike, and you cannot plug one of the ends to a computer. I cannot remember the exact pin configuration of this cable, but as suggested in one of the replies, parallel direct connect cable is a well known one and it should be available in computer shops. You should also be able to find information on the Internet. If I'm not mistaken, almost all the pins except two were straight through. The strobe and acknowledge pins should be reversed.

The laplink mentioned is a software made for this purpose, but not needed in this application. The direct connection wizard handles all that is needed. The null modem cable is a cable used for direct connection through the COM ports, and can be used in place of parallel connection (slightly slower. I would recommend that you use this cable. The cable should have one female 9-pin RS232 connector on both ends (please re-check the gender) and should have a wire connected to pin 7 on both sides. Additionally, two other cables should be connected to pins 2 and 3 on one side, and to pins 3 and 2 on the other (cross connection). This is the simplest and cheapest way of direct connection.

Good luck
Engin

 

[nbucska]

The original/older PC-s have unidirectional parallel ports
where the 8 bit data bus is output only. If both PC-s have
bydirectional ports, you can use the data bus to xfer
the data, with off the shelf cable

else you may use a nibble of the data port of the transmitter connected to 4 bits of the SENSE port of the receiver -- using custom made cable.

The null-modem etc. relates to serial port.



<nbucska@pcperipherals.com>

 

[DreamlandLabs]

arun17,

If you're still trying to get the laptop communicating with the other PC's -

You're trying to use Microsoft's built-in peer-to-peer networking - this is what the direct cable connection refers to. Microsoft *only* implemented that option on the serial port. There is no way to get the MS built-in direct cable driver to use the paralell port. The serial-to-serial cable must be a special &quot;null-modem&quot; version as citpete and jbently mentioned. It's widely available at most stores with a good selection of cables or over the internet. You can also find a special small adapter that converts a 'regular' serial cable to a null modem cable.

It was possible to connect two computers running DOS 6.XX or Win95 with the MS Interlink software. It ran over either the parallel or serial ports of two computers with the appropriate cable. It wasn't true networking, but kind of a server/client resource-sharing scheme. Worked great in it's day, but will not work with Win98 and XP and is not included in either O/S. If you found a copy, you could still work something out by making a DOS 6.22 boot disk for both computers. Trouble is, you're going to have a hard time finding files on a FAT32 or NTFS drive under 6.22

Aside from Interlink, there is third-party file transfer software. It can use or run completely independent of the MS peer-to-peer network. LapLink was one of the popular ones and usually came with their own serial and parallel (and USB) cables. It would be an option for you, but you would need a license for every computer beyond the first two which would make it a fairly costly alternative to going with the built-in MS capability and a US$15 cable.

 

[minoe]

There seems to be a lot of missinformation in this thread.
It is possible to connect these 2 computers and have them talk to each other, however, if you want to use the parallel port, you need a special cable called a Laplink cable. It may be difficult to find one but you can make your own if you have have some basic skills. Check this site for a pin diagaram:

http://invalid.ed.ntnu.no/~kamben/hwb/ca_InterLink.html

You can also use a serial cable, but as stated earlier, you need a crossover or null modem type cable (they are essentially the same thing). The serial port method is very slow in comparison to the parallel port method.

Once you have the direct cable connection utilities installed and you have the computers hooked up, you have to configure one to be host computer and one to be the client. You do this within the direct cable connection software. You will also have to install and select the parallel port as your communications port. You also need to have 'client for microsoft networks' installed and you need to have file and printer sharing enabled. I have never used this feature without using the netbeui protocol, but it should work with tcp/ip. If not, Win98 has netbeui readily available on the operating system disk. Win XP also has it available, however unsupported. You can find and install it by rooting through the value added folder on the install CD.
Lastly, you need to share the drives or folders that you need to access and set the appropriate user permissions.

Good luck.

 

[xaios]

You may need to check the type of parallel port on each machine. If memory serves, both machines will need to be using ECP Parallel Ports (configurable in bios), the Laplink cable then transfers data a nibble (half a byte) at a time. 'EPP' mode may also work.