On 24/04/14 10:37, Mark Rogers wrote:

> I've just ordered two USB/parallel adapters and a "laplink" cable off
> eBay to experiment with. Now that you mention it I might have an old
> Star dot matrix printer lurking somewhere (I think it may be long
> gone though). Although all I really need to do is set up a PC so it
> *thinks* it is talking to a printer and capture it from another PC
> (or the same PC on a different port),

Take care with "laplink" cables. Some are back to back cables that connect the d0-d7 signals directly (what I think you want) and some use the 4 data control lines connected to d0-d3 and special software to write nibbles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_cable_connection#DCC_with_Parallel_Port

Nev