Laplink

Laplink (sometimes styled LapLink) was a proprietary piece of software 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 or USB and a USB adhoc network cable.[2][3][4]

Traveling Software is now known as LapLink Software, Inc.,[5] and their main software is now the PCmover. With the demise of parallel ports on PCs Laplink no longer sells the traditional cable. Instead it has USB to hard drive, USB to USB and Ethernet to Ethernet cables.[6]

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.

The INTERSVR program in MS-DOS 6.0 can also use a LapLink cable.

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.

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
  1. Traveling Software (14 February 1989). "Why Lap-Link Has Connected Over 200,000 Computers". PC Magazine. Vol. 8, no. 3. Ziff Davis, Inc. p. 92. ISSN 0888-8507.
  2. Bem Cotterman (8 November 1994). "Laplink for Windows Takes Controls of Remote PC's". PC Magazine. Vol. 13, no. 19. Ziff Davis, Inc. p. 52. ISSN 0888-8507.
  3. Steve Rigney (17 November 1998). "Access Your Office PC". PC Magazine. Vol. 17, no. 20. Ziff Davis. p. 73.
  4. "About us", laplink.com
  5. "Laplink Easy Transfer Cable For Windows® - Laplink® Software". www.laplink.com. Archived from the original on 2014-11-19.
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