Will my Samsung laser printer work on this PC?

Osem · 17-04-2010, 15:44

My trusty old Samsung ML4500 laser printer is now sitting unused in another room and I'm wondering if I could connect it to this PC? At the moment it's connected via a serial cable to an old W98 machine which I no longer use but I don't just want to bin it as it still works perfectly well.

Any thoughts anyone?

Lord Nikon · 17-04-2010, 15:50

According to the specifications it's not a serial connection

Connectivity IEEE 1284 Bidirectional Parallel

Therefore should work on any PC with a Parallel port or USB-Parallel adapter.

Drivers could be an issue though, check with samsung, and also find out of the printer supports PCL - if it does, drivers are NO problem.

17-04-2010, 16:16

usb adapter and a virtual machine

Dai · 17-04-2010, 16:33

This looks hopeful, although a usb adaptor may still be a good idea.

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/de...l_name=ML-4500

Hom3r · 17-04-2010, 16:39

You could get a Parallel print server and connect it to a router and several PCs could use it.

Osem · 17-04-2010, 23:34

Thanks for the replies everyone.

OOOppps my mistake re the serial/parallel connection, sorry....

Dai - sorry to be stupid but what do I do with the exe file I download from the page you linked to and what then happens to the printer (Lexmark multifunvtion inkjet) I currently have connected via USB?? Can I leave both in place and choose between them when I need to print something? That'd be handy as the Lexmark offers colour.

If this PC has a parallel printer connection (will check tomorrow) why would I need a USB adaptor also? Would that provide a better/faster connection?

TVM

Stuart · 18-04-2010, 00:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osem

Thanks for the replies everyone.

OOOppps my mistake re the serial/parallel connection, sorry....

Dai - sorry to be stupid but what do I do with the exe file I download from the page you linked to and what then happens to the printer (Lexmark multifunvtion inkjet) I currently have connected via USB?? Can I leave both in place and choose between them when I need to print something? That'd be handy as the Lexmark offers colour.

You should be able to have as many printers installed as you need (or have ports for). At work, the login script our computers run connects the PC to the nearest network printers (usually one B&W laser, one Colour laser and one A3 colour laser), and the machines have a virtual printer for creating PDFs, and a virtual printer for creating MS Office documents. So, Windows copes easily with 5 printers..

Quote:

If this PC has a parallel printer connection (will check tomorrow) why would I need a USB adaptor also? Would that provide a better/faster connection?

TVM

If the PC has a parallel printer connection, installing the USB connection will offer no advantage.

Osem · 19-04-2010, 23:20

Thanks everyone. Will get back to you when I try to connect the printer....

Osem · 13-05-2010, 15:23

Just a quick update eveyone. Finally got around to doing it this afternoon. Managed to locate the original driver disc so connected the printer via the parallel port and gave it a whirl. All done in less than 2 mins with no hassle....

The supplied driver seems to work fine as I've printed a number of documents already and there have been no issues. Touch wood of course.....

Thanks again.