I have an old HP LaserJet 4 printer [wikipedia.org]. It's about 10 years old, and it's one of those old behemoths -- you know, back in the day when people knew how to build a printer that will last. This thing will never die, and I frequently see them in banks and other businesses.
Anyway, I wanted to move it to another room, and connect it to different computer. It turns out that the new computer's parallel port doesn't work. So, I ended up buying a Belkin USB Printer Adapter [amazon.com]. The model that I got was the Belkin F5U002V. It's a device that allows you to connect a printer (that would normally use a parallel cable) to one of the USB ports on your computer.
By the way, if you are thinking about buying one of these, I have also found them in OfficeMax and Staples for a lot cheaper than the price on Amazon. This is kind of a tangent, but I was surprised to find this device in those stores. Especially after I struck out in CompUSA. If I wanted an obscure piece of computer hardware, I would go to a computer store, not an office supply store, but whatever...
Anyway, I love this device. Installing it on a computer with Windows XP Pro was a snap. I just plugged one end into the USB port of my computer, and connected the other end to the Centronics port [wikipedia.org] on the printer. The device itself required no drivers and was auto-detected properly.
At that point, it was just a matter of adding the printer. When you go to add the printer, instead of telling Windows to look for a device on LPT1, you select "Virtual printer port for USB" (as in the above picture). Installing the printer literally took 30 seconds.
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