Laplink

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Laplink

Laplink (sometimes styled LapLink) is a proprietary software that was developed by Mark Eppley and sold by Traveling Software.[1] First available in 1983,[1] LapLink was used to synchronize, copy, or move, files between two PCs, in an era before local area networks, using the parallel port and a LapLink cable or serial port and a null modem cable[2][3][4] or USB and a USB ad hoc network cable. Traveling Software is now known as LapLink Software, Inc.,[5] and their main software is now the PCmover.

Thumb
LapLink for Windows screenshot

Cable

LapLink typically shipped with a specialized cable, allowing two PCs computers to be linked together via the parallel port, establishing a direct cable connection. This so-called LapLink cable or null-parallel cable is capable of faster transfer rates than the traditional null modem serial cable. At the time, almost all PCs had a parallel printer port, but neither USB nor modern Ethernet was available.

A Laplink cable can be seen as a parallel equivalent to a serial null modem cable. Because of the higher bandwidth of the parallel port versus the serial port, a Laplink cable is able to transfer data more quickly.

The Interlnk program on MS-DOS can also use the Laplink cable.

With the demise of parallel ports on PCs, Laplink no longer sells the traditional cable.[6]

Wiring

The cable used two DB25 male connectors, and was wired as below:

D0215Error
D1313Select
D2412Paper Out
D3510ACK
D4611Busy
ACK105D3
Busy116D4
Paper Out124D2
Select133D1
Error152D0
Select In1719GND
GND1818GND
GND1917Select In
GND2121GND
GND2222GND
GND2323GND
GND2525GND

See also

References

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