Cabling printers

Serial printers

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. ``Serial cable with two 25-pin connectors'', ``Serial cable with 9-pin and 25-pin connectors'', and ``Serial cable with two 25-pin connectors and a 9-pin to 25-pin converter'' cover each scenario.

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 ``Serial cable with two 25-pin connectors''.
Male 9-pin serial port on PC; female 9-pin and male 25-pin connectors on cable See ``Serial cable with 9-pin and 25-pin connectors''.
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 ``Serial cable with two 25-pin connectors and a 9-pin to 25-pin converter''. 

 If you have these types of connectors   Do this
 Male 25-pin serial port on PC; female   See ``Serial cable with
 and male 25-pin connectors on cable     two 25-pin connectors''
 Male 9-pin serial port on PC; female    See ``Serial cable with
 9-pin and male 25-pin connectors on     9-pin and 25-pin
 cable                                   connectors''
 Male 9-pin serial port on PC; female    See ``Serial cable with
 9-pin and 25-pin connectors on a        two 25-pin connectors and
 converter; female and male 25-pin       a 9-pin to 25-pin
 connectors on cable                     converter''
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.

Serial cable with two 25-pin connectors

Serial cable with 9-pin and 25-pin connectors

Serial cable with two 25-pin connectors and a 9-pin to 25-pin converter

© 1999 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All rights reserved.
UnixWare 7 Release 7.1.1 - 5 November 1999