Printing to older Parallel Port Printer

msp121,

Why would you put one more dime into "Discontinued products - HP LaserJet 1100 printer series"?
1. Support is always going to be iffy to non-existent.
2. Parts/Repair are going to be expensive.

Having said that, you can buy the cable you need here: $20 USD cable
And this article http://www.linuxprinting.org/showprinter.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet1100 may help in making it work.

What I really think you should do is buy a new printer.

This Brother HL-2040 has better specs than your HP, connects via USB and costs ony $120 USD.

This Brother HL-2070N has better specs than your HP, connects via Ethernet and costs ony $170 USD.

This Brother HL-2700CN Network-ready desktop color laser printer is a color laser printer costs only $500 USD.

,dave

I have not tried the USB to Parallel solutions. I have always preferred to go with a small ethernet print server because connecting with ethernet is more versatile. You can easily attach a hub, switch or router to allow sharing of the printer with multiple computers. If you already have an ethernet router to connect to the internet, just connect the print server to one of the ports on the router. Also, this makes printing from a laptop a no-brainer. Here are the two print servers that I currently use:
http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?dpno=742191
http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?dpno=439203
Setup is a bit tedius (usually cloning IP address or something like that), but it works great once it is set up. D-Link's telephone support was very good at helping me get the print server to work with my Windows computer at work - this company may be a good choice if you are a bit apprehensive about setup.

On printers, I would stick with your HP. I have a Brother HL-5050 that claims 600x1200 resolution. Text output, however, is of very poor quality. My previous HP LaserJet 6MP 600 dpi printer (now dead) did MUCH better, probably due to the resolution enhancement software that HP uses. Even my OLD HP LaserJet 4MP at 300 dpi has better text output than my Brother, again probably due to the RET. By the way, I still use the OLD 4MP printer with my Windows machine at work. It is still printing very effectively. If your old printer breaks and parts are not available or are too expensive, throw it away an buy a new one. This is what happened to my 6MP Printer.

msp121,

I've got an old Epson Stylus Color 800 that I connect to my Dual 2.3 G5 with a Keyspan parallel to USB adapter I bought it through CDW. It uses gimp Epson drivers in Tiger. It's not as stable as with my G3 running OS 9 and using the printer port, but that may be the drivers. Every so often I have to turn the printer off and on when it fails to respond. Epson was very helpful when I emailed them the same question you're asking, so HP may be able to verify its compatibility.

Any of the methods identified above should work. Personally, I have my 1100 plugged into my network through my old windows box. With printer sharing on, and using the GIMP driver, I have had zero problems.

Don't worry about support either since HP's seem to last forever. We've got a old Laserjet IIp here at work that's still printing like new.