****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Some people think using parallel cable is dumb, these days. But it's not dumb, if you want to save on your USB allocations. Of course, finding a computer with a parallel port is hard to do. Finding the right kind of parallel cable, is even harder. This one is bi-directional, meaning higher speed, capable of EPP and Parallel port acceleration, which you need for multifunction machines and HP printers, even the modern ones -- if you won't use a USB port to connect to your printer.It took me over an HOUR to find this on Amazon, because the vendors don't properly LABEL their parallel cables. So note well the label on this one. 10 feet is supposed to be the old-time limit on fast transfer with a cable, but that's no longer true. Still, if your equipment is older, it's already 'expecting' a cable no longer than 10 feet, so stick to that size. (Not sure this matters on equipment post-2008).Older Zip and Imation drives have a splitter which allows a parallel hookup though they are first connected into the parallel port. They too 'expect' no more than 10 feet. So remember that. In your case, it might not end up mattering how long. But everything that can go wrong with computers has happened to me (or it seems that's true), so I try to remember these arcane details.One last comment: if you have machines more than 10 years old, this cable might be difficult to seat into the parallel port on the back of the computer. I couldn't fit this cable on my old Dells from the early 1990's. But it fit fine on my 2005-2006 machines.
