Monoprice 50-Feet IEEE 1284 DB25M/CN36M 18PR (100379) Before the advent of printers with USB connections the dominant standard was IEEE 1284 aka the "parallel printer interface" If you have a computer and printer with this interface you can depend on Monoprice to stock the cables you will need to connect them The 18 conductors in this cable consist of 18 tightly woven pairs of wires with one conductor in each providing the signal and the second providing a dedicated ground return (except for the 18th pair which is used device detection) The connector heads are molded onto the cable and the DB25 end has thumbscrews for securing the connector to the computer while the CN36 end has metal clip receptacles for securing it to the printer