Dell computer & Epson dot matrix printer usability?

[newTIboyRob]

Hello all. I picked up a DELL Optiplex 360 computer running Windows XP at an estate sale along with an Epson LQ 200 printer.  If I get the following printer cable on Ebay:  

USB to Parallel Printer Cable, 36pin USB Port Adapter Adaptor Cable ATJ4   (which sadly will take like a month from China, but it's dirt cheap!), will the comp itself be able to find a driver, or if I have to download a driver and save to flash drive to bring it in, would these 2 be able to communicate?

 

Thanks in advance

[+OLD CS1]

As with most things, it depends.  I used USB-to-parallel cables in the past from Manhattan which had the drivers built into Windows XP.  So, it may work or it may not.  In theory, you should get a driver with the cable.  I would expect the Epson LQ series driver to be in Windows XP.

 

It may also help if XP is SP2 or later, as a lot of driver updates were release in SP2.  SP3 is better, and there is out there somewhere an "unofficial service pack" for Windows XP.

 

Good luck.

[newTIboyRob]

Hello and thank you. I haven't looked in XP yet, but should I not find it there, have you had any experience or do you know anyone who has used this website:

http://www.canondriverhp.com/2021/10/epson-lq-200-driver-windows-7810.html     In my address bar, it says it is not secure, so naturally, I am chicken to download anything from it.

Just thought maybe you have heard of the site or used it before?   I noticed it has a downloadable driver for the printer to be used with XP

[+OLD CS1]

1 hour ago, newTIboyRob said:

In my address bar, it says it is not secure, so naturally, I am chicken to download anything from it.

No idea what that site is.  The browser is correct, the site is not secure insofar as it does not use https, but http which is not encrypted.

[newTIboyRob]

Luckily, I made it through the printer Setup Wizard, and you were correct, OLD CS1, the LQ-200 driver was in there. It set up quickly and easily and it says "Ready", so it should be good to go. I am happy that now I can go ahead and order the USB to Parallel cable and hopefully all works nicely.

 

I just have 2 more simple questions:

 

1) Do you happen to know how to get the comp to bypass the first screen I see when I turn on the comp, a black screen about the Battery Voltage Being Low, F1 to continue, F2 To Enter Setup (did that)  and F5 To Run Diagnostics (did that, all is correct.)

I would like not to have to press the F1 to continue so that Windows XP can just automatically load and bypass that screen?

 

2) I'm not sure why the computer just starts up when I plug the main cord into the house outlet?  I mean, shouldn't I have the control of pressing the start button on the comp, instead of it just starting up by itself!?  Why is this?

If it remains a mystery, maybe I should just plug the comp into a power strip which has its own power button, and just flick that on when I want to run the comp?

 

Puzzled. Thanks.

[wierd_w]

The optiplex 360 uses a standard coin cell lithium battery. You can get them at walmart or similar stores reasonably cheaply.

 

The error is about the CMOS battery, and no, you cant really disable the warning, because you would need that battery to retain such a configuration option in the first place. 🙂

 

Just pop the old one out and put in a new one. It should stop after that.

[newTIboyRob]

You were right, popped it in, worked like a charm. Thanks!

[wierd_w]

On 6/4/2023 at 10:34 PM, newTIboyRob said:

You were right, popped it in, worked like a charm. Thanks!

 

Not a problem! Happy to help!