Anyone have a spare parallel cable? And what's the scoop on power supplies?

[WinAce]

A while ago, during our move, a variety of cables and crap we had for the computer vanished. (My mom thinks it's a stuff-stealing demon, of course; I haven't found a rational explanation yet.) Since I'm looking for replacements for the power cable (and the adapter), I have the following questions:

* Does anyone have a spare parallel cable they could send me?
* The power supply for our specific scanner (http://store.axidata.com/flexon/catalog/Printing_&_Imaging_Equipment/Scanners_Accessories/P6HBWNYIFFP6B29MV94E/product.html) costs at least 25 bucks on eBay, but is it possible to use a generic alternative? Surely an AC adapter must be easier to rig to work. Someone at HowToFixComputers.com posted (http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/sutra386521.html) that "It is 24 volt, .84 amp, and it appears to be positive polarity, although the only indication of polarity is a symbol." Does that give me anything to go on in looking for generic alternatives?

So, any ideas? :)

[freemonkey]

I can't answer your question, but if you had posted this a week or two ago, I could have sent you an entire Epson scanner. A few years old, but in decent shape. :sadnana:

[JoeP]

"It is 24 volt, .84 amp, and it appears to be positive polarity, although the only indication of polarity is a symbol." I'm sure that's sufficient. I can't think of anything you could add to the specification, except tolerance (e.g. less that +/- 0.5V variance). Of course you'll want your input voltage and frequency to be correct! But I think the US is pretty standard in that?

.84 amp seems very low ... my laptop adapter is a whopping 18.5A ... but my cellphone charger is .35A and another charger I have is .26A so it's probably right.

Another spec could be whether the output is smooth DC or half-rectified AC. The latter is indicated by a symbol with a broken line above or below a solid line. But I doubt it matters much.

A generic should be fine. Spares are of course the area where computing and electronics companies - not to mention car manufacturers and the entire rest of the world - make high margins.

[WinAce]

Well, I found one that wasn't too much of a ripoff on eBay. Still quite a ripoff, but about what a generic adapter would cost if purchased new, so... might as well get a guarantee that it'll work. Thanks though, freemonkey and Joe! :)

[Ymir's blood]

My brother might have an extra parallel cable he'd be willing to part with. I'll ask him next time I'm over there.

[seebs]

Which exact variety of parallel cable? 25-pin to 36-pin "centronics" connector?

[WinAce]

I think so, seebs. I'll look into it more when I get back to Carrboro. (I'm on leave to Charlotte with Jess right now.) I do know it has a "male" and "female" connector, respectively.