I just finished installing an Epson 740 on a new computer, and found out
quite a bit in the process. That particular model comes with both parallel
port and USB port capability built in (or at least the one I purchased did).

I had some problems in getting it hooked up, so I found myself wandering the
Epson FAQ's. For the Epsons, at least, the question of which printers are
capable of using parallel-to-USB converters varies according to printer
model. And it did appear that the models capable of handling such conversion
did have to have Epson USB drivers to allow it (I found some of the USB
drivers on the website, but not many). And the revision of USB on the
motherboard makes a difference, too. There were a lot of factors to take
into account, at least for the Epsons.

Roxanne Pierce

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mary Wolden Sent: Thursday, June 10, 1999 08:22
> >
> > At 11:28 PM 6/8/99 -0700, you wrote:
> > >I saw a cable today at CompUSA.  Centronics to USB.
> > >S'posed to let you run your printer through your USB. The
> > >packaging boasted - "Free up your parallel port for other
> > >devices such as your Zip Drive or external
> > >drives.  Connnect your printer to your USB..."
> > >
> > >If a printer is designed to use the parallel port, can it
> > >use the USB bus as well?  Is this ability defined by
> > >the printer? the chipset?  (USB rev?)
> > >Joan
>
> Epson has a USB cable for most of their printers.  I am using
> one for a 1520 but I had to install their USB printer drivers
> because the refill ink function does not work with the USB cable.
> Before I invested in the USB cable I would ask the technical support
> for your printer whether the printer will work on a USB cable with
> the installed printer driver.  I had some trouble even with the
> Epson USB printer driver until I changed the spooler to the
> Microsoft spooler.  Epson has a work around but I haven't tried it
> yet as the printer works the way it is.

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