AG-2
Assembly Guide
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Printing to a Mac-only HP DeskWriter® from a Windows® PC®
Introduction
Got a "Mac-only" HP DeskWriter inkjet printer gathering dust?
Want to connect it to a PC and print to it from Windows? Then this
Application Guide is for you!
Hewlett-Packard®made two very similar series of desktop inkjet printers – the DeskJet® series for Windows / PCs, and the DeskWriter series for Apple® Macintosh® computers. The DeskWriter line has been discontinued in favor of the current DeskJet line, now that Macs use USB as their preferred means of connecting serial devices.
This Application Guide explains how to print from a PC running Windows 98 or Windows XP to an HP DeskWriter 660C inkjet printer that has only a mini-DIN-8 connector – a decidedly nonstandard configuration that is not supported by HP. An unused serial port (DB-9 or DB-25) is required to connect the PC to the DeskWriter 660C.
Cabling
DeskWriters with mini-DIN-8 (8-pin) connectors are normally connected to a Macintosh computer via a Macintosh serial printer cable with male mini-DIN-8 connectors on each end. Since these cables are not used in the PC world, a cable must be acquired or made to connect a DeskWriter to a PC's serial port.
Asomewhat similar, widely-available and well-documented cable provides a good place to start – the Mac modem cable is a min- DIN-8-to-DB-25 cable that facilitates connecting a Mac modem to a conventional (i.e. PC) RS-232 serial port. This is a straight-
created by Andrew E. Kalman on Aug 19, 2000 updated on Feb 21, 2006 All trademarks mentioned herein are properties of their respective companies.
