Centronics - Definition and Overview

Centronics is:

• A manufacturer of dot matrix computer printers, formerly based in Hudson, New Hampshire and reselling printer mechanisms manufactured by Brother Industries, Ltd. of Japan.
• Shorthand for the standard printer interface originally designed by Centronics. This interface describes a parallel interface connector pinout and signal set for connecting a printer to a computer. The further-evolved version of this de facto standard was eventually standardized as IEEE standard IEEE 1284. This standard is expected to eventually become obsolete in favor of newer, faster standards such as USB, but as of 2004 Centronics-compatible printers remain in volume production.

External links

• Official website of Centronics' descendent company (http://www.tallygenicom.com/drivers/centronics.htm)
• IEEE standards website (http://standards.ieee.org/prod-serv/index.html)

Example Usage of Centronics