Has anyone used a parallel to USB cable to attach a printer? I have an old printer that uses the LPT port on an old PC. I want to attach it to a newer PC but it does not have an LPT port.
Unless I'm mistaken, you mean USB to parallel (USB2LPT) cable/converter, not the opposite? This kind of mixing of old and new equipment vith converters may introduce quite "interesting" effects to you. Perhaps you should either get parallel port add-on card or replace the old printer to avoid the waste of time. Then again... if you don't plan to get rid of old computer, why not print via network?
The converter cables/adaptors have a chip inside the plug, and requires a driver to operate. It is really less than ideal, and it would probably be hard to find one of these as they are pretty useless these days. If you do manage to find one, it is unlikely it will support Windows 7 or x64. Its also an expense that has little justification, especially when you consider the quality/speed of the print from the printer and the cost of the replenishables such as cartridges. If you haven't used it in a while, the inkjet nozzles are probably blocked and replacement of the head may be necessary (and expensive). This of course depends on the brand of printers as with some you replace the head each time with the new cartridges (like HP) and others just the cartridges keeping the same head (Canon etc, which is much cheaper). The cartridges may not even be available for the printer anymore, and refills can be messy and only suitable for a couple of refills. Then of course if its a dot matrix printer you need to consider the ribbons and the special paper required, or an old laser pritner the toner cartridges and availability. The end result is the printer is useless, as getting it back up and running will most likely be more expensive than getting a new printer. There is really only one brand of printer I'd trust, and remember all the cheaper printers end up being dearer in the long run if you do a lot of printing due to the cartridge system used in the particular model.
I've also had poor/inconsistent results with USB to Parallel adapters and just as poor/inconsistent results with network printserver to USB/Parallel port adapters. For just $20-$40 more than the price of a potentially problematic USB to Parallel adapter you can get a really nice reliable USB & (wired & wireless) network capable laser printer.