PCs generally have either a male 9-pin or 25-pin serial port.
Serial printers generally have a female 25-pin serial port.
Three different cabling scenarios connect most PCs and serial
printers. Figures B-2, B-3, and B-4 cover each scenario.
Table B-2 Cabling
Serial Printers
If
you have these types of connectors | Do
this |
|---|
Male 25-pin
serial port on PC Female and male 25-pin connectors on cable | See Figure
B-2. |
Male 9-pin
serial port on PC Female 9-pin and male 25-pin connectors on cable | See Figure
B-3. |
Male 9-pin
serial port on PC Female 9-pin and 25-pin connectors on a converter
Female and male 25-pin connectors on cable | See Figure
B-4. |
Most serial cables have 25-pin
connectors on each end. A standard serial cable is called "straight-through."
This is used for modems and does not work for printing. "No-modem"
or "null-modem" cables work for the majority of
serial printers.
You need to buy a 25-pin to 9-pin adaptor if you have a 9-pin
port on your PC. Printers generally have 25-pin male ports.
NetWare serial printing parameters default to the most common
settings: polled interrupt, no XON/XOFF, no parity, 9600 baud rate,
8 data bits, and 1 stop bit. These settings function with most serial
printers.
When XON/XOFF is enabled, the software controls the flow of
data between the PC and the printer. When XON/XOFF is disabled,
the hardware controls the data flow.
Printable version
