ieee vs. usb

[sawjai]

i'm sorta new with computers and everything and one of my
relatives asked me to help him buy a printer. i've never
seen his computer before and when i asked him whether or
not he has a usb port or not, he could not answer me. so,
i was just wondering whether or not his computer would
have a usb port. i'm sure it's a pretty old computer.
probably an ibm.

also, if i get him a printer that uses ieee port
connection, will it definitely plug into his computer?
because i've noticed several varieties in ieee cables.
would it still fit into his computer regardless of
whether or not it is an ieee 1284 or ieee 1394? i'm just
so confused about this. what is the difference?

any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you.

[S.Heenan]

sawjai wrote:
> i'm sorta new with computers and everything and one of my
> relatives asked me to help him buy a printer. i've never
> seen his computer before and when i asked him whether or
> not he has a usb port or not, he could not answer me. so,
> i was just wondering whether or not his computer would
> have a usb port. i'm sure it's a pretty old computer.
> probably an ibm.
>
> also, if i get him a printer that uses ieee port
> connection, will it definitely plug into his computer?
> because i've noticed several varieties in ieee cables.
> would it still fit into his computer regardless of
> whether or not it is an ieee 1284 or ieee 1394? i'm just
> so confused about this. what is the difference?
>
> any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you.


IEEE 1284 is the standard parallel port connector. IEEE 1394 is Firewire.
His computer very likely has both parallel and USB ports. Most consumer
grade printers use one or both of the latter two interfaces. Hope this
helps.
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