Connecting a 1994 HP Laserjet 4MP printer to my new iMac

Hello all. I just recently bought a new iMac, and I am having difficulty getting an older HP Laserjet 4MP printer to communicate properly with the iMac. I originally thought that I needed a parallel to usb cable, so I bought one of these, but the computer would work briefly for one print out and then fail to print again. I then read the printer's manual, and it indicates that if you are going to connect the printer to a macintosh computer you need to use a standard 8 pin localtalk cable. I still have my original localtalk cable from when I used to use this printer with an older powermac in the early 90s, but I cannot find on the internet, or in any stores, a female 8 pin to usb adapter.
Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on what I might try, or perhaps recommend a place to purchase the correct adapter / cable? I really like this printer and it has been working great, so I hate to get rid of it. Thanks in advance for any replies you all have. If I cannot come up with a solution I might just buy a new printer.

D. P.
I wouldn't bother with any 8 pin arrangement as that is putting a further complication in the chain.
The Keyspan USB to parallel adaptor cable is on this page.
http://www.keyspan.com/products/homepage.2.productList.Parallel.spml
I have used this cable on three Mac OS's (10.2, 10.3 and10.5) without the need to load any driver for it. The Mac seems to know what it is.
However, if you can send a page to the printer with what you have, then I am unsure, if what you have is sufficient, or if the keyspan version somehow handles the Input/Output data transfer better.
I am reluctant to advise you buying this if it is not going to change anything without first investigating if the driver you are using is causing this one page then stop behaviour.
When you click in Print and Fax, highlight the HP and where is says Kind it may say
Generic postscript Printer, whereas it would be better if if said GutenPrint v5.13.
However I did not have to do anything to get this setting, Leopard just found it.
You could select the printer again, with it switched on and in the left hand panel, control click and choose Reset printing System, as this may reset the driver to GutenPrint.
If that fails to set it, click on *Open Print Queue* ... then Info, then click on Driver and select GutenPrint v5.13 from the list, and see how that goes.

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http://www.mikestechblog.com/joomla/networking-section/network-printing-category /52-how-to-configure-an-hp-jetdirect-300x-print-server.html
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This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hello DayTrader,
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Connecting a 1994 HP Laserjet 4MP printer to my new iMac

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