First off, sorry about the placement of this thread - I put this thread here thinking it would fit in here, then afterwards noticed the Nintendo Development section below. Oops. So anyway, I may buy a Bung GB Xchanger. But my laptop doesn't have a parallel port. If I bought a parallel to usb cable (they're cheap on amazon), would it still work? Or would it just fail at life? It probably sounds like an obvious question too, but I would like to know for sure before I spend my money. Cheers in advance.
If you laptop has a cardbus or express card port then you can get a parallel port interface card which will be compatable (providing the above is compatable with a normal parallel port in windows), however unlike the USB devices they are not cheap, expect to pay around $60+ for one new. http://www.cooldrives.com/1ppaspex34.html
Found one a lot cheaper than that: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Laptop-PCMCIA-Parallel-IEEE1284-1-Port-Card-Vista_W0QQitemZ190300079663QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_LaptopAccessories_PCMCIACards?hash=item190300079663&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318 £12. In other words, $17.58. Bargain?
Keep in mind that the Xchanger unit wants a straight-through connection, and won't connect properly if you use an actual printer cable. You need 25-pins at both ends with contact on every one of them. I think they used to call that a null modem cable?
Yes although I showed a link for a Express Card 34 slot which most laptops made in the last 2 years are likely to only support. The website also states it's compatable with most devices (they also sell a cheaper uni directional one for printers only...) The item you shown is a cardbus interface so if you could has a cardbus slot then it should work (although it's Ebay, where most sellers don't have great technical knowledge...) Er no it's a fully wired up 1 to 1 DB25 cable. A null modem cable is generally for serial ports and generally only has a few pins wired up...
I've got a Dell Inspiron 1520. From a quick google search, it appears it would work fine with the adapter. Thanks for the help!
You're right, they're just calling it a fully wired straight-through cable on the hacker sites. Seems like a common enough part to have a functionally distinct name though. Link: http://www.tototek.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=36
My Bung Dr. V64 for my nintendo 64 uses the same exact cable. It just the same parallel port on both ends (like the end that would connect to your computer from a printer cable). Trasnfer is kinda slow on the cable but, its much easier to just put stuff on cd-rw and load it on the v64.
