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Parallel cables pinout and port info
About the Author: Lammert Bies is a dad, husband and polyglot. He is developing embedded systems since the
eighties. Used machine learning before it had a name. Specializes in interconnecting computers, robots and humans.
Was a Google Mapmaker Advocate and speaker on several international Google conferences from 2011 until the
plug was pulled on Mapmaker in 2017. Bughunter with Google. Currently spreading artificial intelligence to the
wildest locations in production environments. He never stops learning.
Parallel connector pin assignment
Printer cable
Interlink cable
Windows 95/98/ME DCC
Parallel test plugs
Parallel cables
Standard parallel cables are easy to obtain, but the link cable and test connectors which are shown here can often be better
soldered by yourself.
Parallel connector pinout
The parallel port socket on your computer uses 25 pins. On most peripherals like printers, the 36 pins Centronics version is
used. Both connector pin-outs are shown here. The Centronics socket is named after the company that introduced the first
dot matrix printer in 1970, but after IBM and Epson took over the dot matrix printer market (later followed by Hewlett Packard
in the laser and Deskjet printer segment) most people only associate the word Centronics with the port interface itself, not
with a manufacturer.
Parallel DB25 pinout
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Centronics pinout
Parallel printer cable
Most printers are connected to a computer using a cable with a 25 pins DB male connector at one side and a 36 pins
centronics connector on the other. The normal way to make such a cable is shown here.
Line DB25 male (computer) Centronics (printer)
Strobe 1 ►1
Data bit 0 2 ►2
Data bit 1 3 ►3
Data bit 2 4 ►4
Data bit 3 5 ►5
Data bit 4 6 ►6
Data bit 5 7 ►7
Data bit 6 8 ►8
Data bit 7 9 ►9
Acknowledge 10 ◄ 10
Busy 11 ◄ 11
Paper out 12 ◄ 12
Select 13 ◄ 13
Autofeed 14 ► 14
Error 15 ◄ 32
Reset 16 ► 31
Select 17 ► 36
Signal ground 18 ◄ ► 33
Line DB25 male (computer) Centronics (printer)
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Signal ground 19 ◄ ► 19 + 20
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ground 20 ◄ ► 21 + 22
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Signal ground 21 ◄ ► 23 + 24
Signal ground 22 ◄ ► 25 + 26
Signal ground 23 ◄ ► 27
Signal ground 24 ◄ ► 28 + 29
Signal ground 25 ◄ ► 16 + 30
Shield Cover ◄ ► Cover + 17
Parallel printer cable
Interlink and Windows 95/98/ME DCC parallel cable
The following parallel cable can be used with file transfer and network programs like LapLink and InterLink. The cable uses
the parallel port which makes it possible to achieve higher throughput than with a serial connection at the same low costs.
The cable is among others compatible with the following software.
Laplink from Travelling software
MS-DOS v 6.xx InterLink
Windows 95, 98 and ME direct cable connection
Norton Commander
Norton Ghost
Because the parallel port on a computer was mainly designed to connect printers with one-way communication, a trick is
used to achieve full two way data transfer between both sides. Five error and status message inputs are redefined as data
inputs. Instead of reading full bytes, the communication software reads these five bits and combines multiple groups of data
back to bytes. The sender and receiver have to use the same protocol to convert bytes to groups of 5 bits and vice versa.
Interlink and Windows 95/98/ME DCC parallel cable
Connector 1 Connector 2 Computer 1 Computer 2
2 15 Data bit 0 ► Error
3 13 Data bit 1 ► Select
4 12 Data bit 2 ► Paper Out
5 10 Data bit 3 ► Acknowledge
6 11 Data bit 4 ► Busy
Connector 1 Connector 2 Computer 1 Computer 2
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10 5 Acknowledge ◄ Data bit 3
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11 this ad? 6 Busy ◄ Data bit 4
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12 4 Paper Out ◄ Data bit 2
13 3 Select ◄ Data bit 1
15 2 Error ◄ Data bit 0
25 25 Signal ground ◄ ► Signal ground
Interlink and Windows 95/98/ME DCC parallel cable
Parallel port test plugs
Both Norton Diagnostics and CheckIt have the ability to check the functionality of a parallel port. To do this, both software
packages need a special plug on the port. Unfortunately, the pin layout of both connectors is not the same. The scheme of
both sockets is given here.
Norton test plug CheckIt test plug
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