I concur:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff Kell
> John Clogg wrote:
> > It sounds like your printer has an HPIB (IEEE-488) interface.
>
> HP-IB is a huge, fat connector, but from Terry's description:
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Simpkins, Terry [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
[...]
> > in the 293x printers doesn't have the "standard" parallel connector.
> > Instead it has a large "D" connector (36 pin???) that
[...]

That's rich -- the "standard" parallel cable IS a 36-pin centronics
connector -- at least, it WAS the standard until some lame-brained IBM
designer decided to go with a cheaper standard SERIAL connector and call it
a parallel port (To avoid confusion, the SERIAL port was relagated to the
MALE connector while the parallel port took the female connector --
unfortunately, lots of modems at the time, being DCE devices, expected to
connect to TERMINALS which would indeed have "female" connectors, not "male"
connectors -- hence overnight the "gender bender" industry took off...)

From a page that sells GPIB/HPIB cables:

[http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5Fid=907&sku=02785]

=====
Designed for optimum efficiency and durability, the Cables To Go HPIB/GPIB
cables ensure flawless data transmission and are manufactured according the
IEEE-488 specification. They feature male and female piggy-backed 24-pin
Centronics style connections to allow daisy-chaining to another instrument
or printing device. Each cable is double-shielded and fully molded to reduce
EMI/RFI interference and acheive maximum signal integrity.

The GPIB bus was invented by Hewlett Packard at the end of the 1960's. The
intention was to create a reliable bus system especially designed for
connecting computers and instruments. This networked system has all features
that are required to create a measurement system. Remote control of
instruments is one aspect of these features, but there are other more
important features like data handshake for reliable operation and real-time
response capability, only to name a few. The original bus system, designed
by Hewlett Packard, was called HPIB, short for Hewlett Packard Interface
Bus.

Connectors: Centronics 24-pin Male/Female to Centronics 24-pin Male/Female
=====

So, both a "standard" parallel connector and a gpib/hpib connecter uses a
"centronics" physical form factor -- printers use 36 pins; hpib uses 24 (and
actually hpib is parallel as well, so I guess it could be considered
"accurate" to describe a 24-pin centronics cable/connector as a "parallel"
cable/port)

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