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Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Thursday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week 2/1/2006 |
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If you’re thinking about
buying a new computer this year, you better think of replacing that old
printer too. Otherwise just like that hamburger commercial where the old lady
said “Where’s the beef? “ you might be saying something
similar. When I
first started working with pc’s back in mid 70’s, I recall you
hooked your computer up to one of the early printers using a serial port.
This meant that data – or the article you wanted to print – was
sent to the printer in a stream of single characters at a time; one after the
other - quite slow. By the time
the IBM PC was introduced in August of 1981 the parallel port was an option,
meaning it sent 8 characters at a time, thus was at least 8 times faster than
the serial port. These 2
ports were standard equipment on all pc’s well
into the 90’s virtually without any modification to their architecture.
As a standard, you plugged your mouse into the serial port, and your printer
into the parallel port. But as
the pc world evolved, new devices such as scanners and digital cameras
strained the capability of the older ports, and a new standard of ports
– USB or Universal Serial Bus ports began being added to pc’s
back in the 1990’s, in addition to the old standard ports. USB ports
have now evolved
to a version 2, although you may find two sets of USB ports on
a new computer today – USB 1 and 2. So many
devices now use the simplicity of the new USB ports that you actually might
outgrow the number of USB ports in your computer. No problem – you can
just go to any computer or office supply store and buy a USB Hub that adds 4
or more USB ports, for as low as
$ 20. Even my Timex Datalink
wristwatch uses a USB port so I can download my Outlook data to it. But just
recently, Dell – the leader in direct market pc sales now – has ceased using
parallel and serial ports in their latest models. Which
might create a problem for some of you using older printers and devices. Fortunately
most of the new printers over the past several years have included a parallel
and a USB port, so it’s not a problem if you have one of these. But if
you have an older printer – Say a Hewlett Packard Laserjet
4-3- or even 2 – which at one time were the indestructible work horse
printers of the industry and there are thousands of them going strong today
– or any old printer which connects via a parallel port – you
might find yourself doing a “Where’s the Beef?” imitation,
except you’ll be saying “Where’s the parallel port”? when your new computer arrives. So this
is something to consider when buying a new computer – either getting an
older parallel port added as an option to your new computer and configured so
it doesn’t conflict with the USB ports, or buying a new printer. Fortunately we are now in the age of
low cost almost disposable printers, with even quality lasers selling for
just a few hundred dollars. Today you
can buy a new powerhouse computer and printer for less than half the $ 2000 I paid for
my HP Laser jet III back in the 80‘s, which I still use daily. Call me
old school. For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2005 MTA Micro
Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 |
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