Will DOS Program print to new inkjets?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yuri S.
  • Start date Start date
Y

Yuri S.

Hi

Current system: Win98SE, but using DOS program Paradox 4.02.

Our Epson Stylus has died and we need to look at a replacement.

Pdox only prints to LPTx:

I assume (don't know, that's why I'm asking) that I need a
parallel port printer, eg Epson C83, fitted to LPT1 or LPT2 to
get any output at all.

However the C83 specs say "requires Windows". Will printing from
Pdox to LPT1 in Win98 result in correct output on an Epson (or
any brand)? Do the newer Epsons recognise the (old) Epson Esc
and print codes?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Y.
 
Hi

Current system: Win98SE, but using DOS program Paradox 4.02.

Our Epson Stylus has died and we need to look at a replacement.

Pdox only prints to LPTx:

I assume (don't know, that's why I'm asking) that I need a
parallel port printer, eg Epson C83, fitted to LPT1 or LPT2 to
get any output at all.

However the C83 specs say "requires Windows". Will printing from
Pdox to LPT1 in Win98 result in correct output on an Epson (or
any brand)? Do the newer Epsons recognise the (old) Epson Esc
and print codes?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Click to expand...

Unless you are using Epson codes, I know most HP's still support basic
PCL (and plain text, of course.) Finding a parallel printer is getting
hard. You may even want to consider Ebay or other site and get a used
printer.

It might be possible to use a USB printer as if it was on parallel. I
know this works for Win2K, but don't know if Win98 will let you do this.
Basically, you share the printer, then do a NET USE to create a parallel
port pointing at your own share:
NET USE LPT1: \\computer\printer

The above will work if the program uses standard DOS function calls and
probably BIOS calls, too. If it tries directly accessing the hardware,
it'll fail.
 
Yuri,
Pdox only prints to LPTx:
Click to expand...

Any DOS software cant directly print to an USB port.
However the C83 specs say "requires Windows".
Click to expand...

I don't know the C83, but there are printers, so called "Windows-only".
DOS softwares cant dial with this printers because they are not able to
correctly manage a simple ascii input stream, but they requires the code
produced by the Windows driver.

Anyway, if you can redirect the output of your DOS app. to a file, I've
developed an utility to send that file to any windows printer, including
Windows-only, USB and Virtual printers like WinFax and PDF writers. It also
adds some other interesting features like print preview, font selection etc.
You can find more info and a free trial at http://www.guolo.com/printfil

Obviously, you can also choose to buy a parallel printer which supports DOS.
In this case, maybe you have to change some ESC codes if your previous epson
was a dot-matrix one.

Regards,
Davide Guolo
 
Davide Guolo said:
I've
developed an utility to send that file to any windows printer, including
Windows-only, USB and Virtual printers like WinFax and PDF writers. It also
adds some other interesting features like print preview, font selection etc.
You can find more info and a free trial at http://www.guolo.com/printfil
Click to expand...

Mr Guolo,
I tried your "printfil" and noticed that half an hour later it tried
to make an Internet connection, when I wans't even at the computer.

What is it trying to do?
 
Hello Alan,
I tried your "printfil" and noticed that half an hour later it tried
to make an Internet connection, when I wans't even at the computer.

What is it trying to do?
Click to expand...

It is the Auto-update feature, as described on the Printfil manual.
When an internet connection is established, Printfil connects to our web
site and download a little txt file to see if a newer version is available
(it compares its own version with the ascii file and eventually displays a
message)

This feature can be enabled / disabled by a configuration parameter, as
described on the Printfil manual. If you want, you can also enable logging
of the transmission (using another parameter in printfil.ini), to see
exactly what comes from our site to your PC, so you can see yourself that
absolutely NO information is sent to our site, but only downloaded from
there.

To be honest, this parameter was introduced for troubleshooting wrong
connections rather than to prove our honesty.

Kind regards,
Davide Guolo
 
Davide Guolo said:
Hello Alan,


It is the Auto-update feature, as described on the Printfil manual.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks -- one has to be a bit paranoid these days. I get concerned
when my firewall tells me that a new app is trying to dial out for no
obvious reason.
 
Hi,

the following will probably work.
First, ask a friend if you can have his/her printer for a while (USB or
Parallel)

Install the printer.
Share the printer (should be present in W98 too). Name the printer something
simple like MyPrinter or OfficePrinter

In the case you named the printer MyPrinter, you type the following cmd
NET USE LPT1: \\127.0.0.0\MYPRINTER

127.0.0.0 is your computer. You can also use the name of it.
So if the name of your computer is Yuri-comp the command is
NET USE LPT1: \\YURI-COMP\MYPRINTER

If this command is accepted, you can try to print from your program.
If it all works OK, you can make this assignment permanent because the
previous command will only last till you reset your computer

NET USE LPT1: \\YURI-COMP\MYPRINTER /PERSISTENT:YES
You remove the LPT1: printer by using the next command

NET USE LPT1: /DELETE

You can also assign LPT2: or LPT3: in this way.
So you can print to 3 different printers from DOS.

Succes,
Ben
 
Windows 98 has a good track record when it comes to converting and
printing the output stream of a DOS program running from within Windows.
(A "Win-Printer" won't work if the computer is booted straight to DOS.)

Windows 2000-Plain also has a good track record. Windows 2000-SP2 doesn't
have as good a record. It's Windows 2000-SP3/SP4 that has a dismal record
of rendering the ASCII stream of DOS programs' output to the Windows
method. Forget about XP.
 
On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 15:40:39 GMT, Brian Smither wrote:

=>Windows 2000-Plain also has a good track record. Windows 2000-SP2 doesn't
=>have as good a record. It's Windows 2000-SP3/SP4 that has a dismal record
=>of rendering the ASCII stream of DOS programs' output to the Windows
=>method. Forget about XP.

That has ramifications beyond printing, since many older
newsreaders etc don't understand MS versions of plain text.
For that matter, older MS programs don't understand the
current versions, either. The results range from strange
characters or blanks showing up in "plain text" messages
originating with an MS program to confusion about filenames
(especially with spaces in them, which can cause real
problems.)

But so long as the immature cowboys that consider
themselves the leaders of computer technology refuse to
knuckle under to and accept standards, even standards they
don't like, we'll get this, and worse - MS is by no means
the only offender.

We need standard data formats, and standard communication
protocols. If we have those, people can do what they like
with hardware and software.
 
There is this guy who has a free dos point of sale program and apparantley
wrote a utility to print to any printer in the windows printer folder. I
haven't had time to check it out but it must work.
http://pages.prodigy.net/daleharris/
that's his webpage... he has a chat room every night until 10pm central or
something. may take some navigating.

I accept PayPal. thanks.
 
There is this guy who has a free dos point of sale program and apparantley
wrote a utility to print to any printer in the windows printer folder. I
haven't had time to check it out but it must work. Maybe only in his
program?
Don't know but it's worth a try
http://pages.prodigy.net/daleharris/
that's his webpage... he has a chat room every night until 10pm central or
something. may take some navigating as it's linked to another "news"
website.

I accept PayPal. thanks.
 
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