Laplink (sometimes styled LapLink) is a proprietary software that was developed by Mark Eppley and sold by Traveling Software.[ 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][ "About us", laplink.com] and their main software is now the PCmover.
Cable
LapLink typically shipped with a specialized cable, allowing two PCs 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.
Wiring
The cable used two DB25 male connectors, and was wired as below:
|
| Error |
| Select |
| Paper Out |
| ACK |
| Busy |
| D3 |
| D4 |
| D2 |
| D1 |
| D0 |
| GND |
| GND |
| Select In |
| GND |
| GND |
| GND |
| GND |
See also
External links
