NEXT Color Printer find - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

30 Dec 2001

On December 30, Pete Turnbull wrote:
...
   My
understanding is that Centronics was the first to use this type of  connector on its
parallel printers, so
  when it became the standard type connector the
name stuck.  
 No, Tony is correct.  Just because a name is commonly (mis)used in a
 particular way, doesn't mean it's correct, especially in catalogues.  This
 discussion has come up before in relation to "DB9" connectors etc.  A
 Centronics connector is a specific size, 36pins.  The other sizes (14, 20,
 24, 50, etc) are NOT Centronics connectors. The 24-way is sometimes
 referred to as an IEEE-488 connector.  Does that make all the other sizes
 IEEE-488 connectors too?

 The common misuse is fairly recent, too.  50-pin conectors in that shape
 have been around for a long time, as SCSI connectors, as telco connectors,
 and for datacomms.  Only in the last 5-8 years have I seen them referred to
 as Centronics. 
  It has always been my understanding that the proper way to refer to
one of these is by the name "amphenol connector".

-- 
Dave McGuire
St. Petersburg, FL         "Less talk.  More synthohol." --Lt. Worf