I’ve acquired a scanner and both ofthe cable that came with it say scsi on them however, one is clearly a printer cable and the other is a serial cable.
What gives?
IANASCSIE, but the SCSI standard consists of a number of different varieties, fast, slow, wide, narrow, etc. Depending on whether it’s internal or external, the connector can vary again. I had a server with 3 different types of external SCSI ports, while an HP scanner I have someplace has yet two more. Many have the Centronics printer-style connector - take a look here - posting the style and your scanner model would help someone who knows give more info.
SCSI uses (used?) several different connector types. One, Centronics 50, looks very much like a printer connector. Another, DB25, has been used as a connector for serial cables. I can see how you would be confused.
SCSI is very picky about cables. Make sure you use the correct ones. I have a drawer full of proper SCSI cables I don’t need. PM me if you want some.
There are a lot of different connectors and cables that work with SCSI. For example, SCSI ZIP drives used to use a DB25 connector (they may still, but I haven’t looked at one of these drives in a long time). This is the same type of connector that’s used with a parallel port, which was often used for printers before USB became common. Other SCSI cables use a Centronics connector, which also used to be used with printers.
The main difference between a SCSI cable and a conventional cable (e.g. a DB25 printer cable) is shielding. SCSI cables handle a relatively high transfer rate, so they must be shielded from electrical interference. If, for example, you tried to use a DB25 printer cable on a SCSI ZIP drive, you’d probably get a lot of errors. The shielding tends to make SCSI cables thicker, stiffer and more expensive than conventional cables.
Well I have an SCSI card. It’s not installed yet. What I don’t have is come sort of adapter that lets me hook up the scsi cables I have to a hd68 interface.
Or a cable that goes from one to the other. or something.
ex chemist I can’t pm you form this board.
And don’t forget that the original TWAIN drivers allowed SCSI connectivity over the Parallel port.
ex chemist, apparently, I can’t email you either. You may email me and I’ll email you back.
Nilly Willy, do go on.
Most computer supply stores will stock SCSI adapters/convertors of various sorts. I’m not too familiar with the 68-pin cables, but I’ve bought 50-to-25 pin converters and 50 (large) to 50 (mini) converters at CompUSA or similar stores.
This talks about SCSI over parallel much more coherently than I could right now.
I should mention that actually the TWAIN drivers handle scanner comm while ASPI etcetera drivers handle device level comm.