a standard 36-pin parallel connector is available at the rear of the printer for connection to the data source. under normal circumstances, data sent from the printer to the host computer in response to a “printer status request” command is sent through the rs-232 serial port. however, if the host computer has a properly configured ieee-1284 parallel port that is recognized by the printer, status information is returned through the parallel port. port selection for status information is determined each time the printer is turned on.

    parallel port interconnections

    table 3 shows the pin configuration and function of a standard computer-to-printer parallel cable.