Skip to Content
PC Hardware in a Nutshell, Second Edition
book

PC Hardware in a Nutshell, Second Edition

by Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson
June 2002
Beginner to intermediate
816 pages
32h 59m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from PC Hardware in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Our Picks

Parallel ports are ubiquitous on modern systems. Any new computer or motherboard you buy today (other than a legacy-free system) includes an IEEE 1284-compliant parallel port.

Parallel port

PC Parallel/Serial adapter. Very few systems require anything other than the embedded port. However, if you need to add a parallel port—either to replace an older, less capable port or because you need a second parallel port to run a second printer—buy one of the inexpensive (~$20) parallel/serial port cards commonly sold by computer stores and mass marketers. We’ve used many different ones, all of which seem to work fine and none of which is noticeably better than any of the others.

Cables

Belkin Gold Series IEEE 1284 cables. Nowadays, the only parallel cable you are likely to need is a printer cable, which is a standard off-the-shelf model. Belkin stocks a great variety of standard IEEE 1284 printer cables in lengths up to 50 feet and various combinations of Type A, B, and C connectors. Although Belkin makes a less expensive line of cables, their best grade is worth the few extra dollars it costs. Once you have one, you’ll probably never need to buy a printer cable again. (http://www.belkin.com)

For updated recommendations, visit:

http://www.hardwareguys.com/picks/parallel.html
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

PC Hardware Annoyances

PC Hardware Annoyances

Stephen J. Bigelow
PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson
Repairing and Upgrading Your PC

Repairing and Upgrading Your PC

Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596003536Catalog PageErrata