How can I use a USB printer with an old DOS program
mortman
program which has the printer driver as an integral part of the program.
Until now I have used an HP Laserjet IIIp to print the caledars (the
driver for this printer is a part of the application). However, the
printer is no longer operational and cannot be repaired. Although
refurbished models of the printer are occasionally available, prices are
quite high and quality is questionable.
I currently use a USB printer (Deskjet 970 Cxi) for all my windows XP
programs.
Is there some way I can get the output from the Calendar Creator program
to print on my Deskjet? Although there are newer windows versions of the
program, they do not offer the features and convenience of that good old
DOS version I have used for years.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Zaphod Beeblebrox
"mortman" <mo...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Zb2dnc88pcsbTCfU...@giganews.com...
The first thing I'd try is to set the USB printer as shared, then map
it to LPT1 so the program can print to it, then see if one of the
built-in printer drivers works. Fortunately for you, the HP 970
supports HP's PCL3 which means that it has built-in support for DOS
text printing, and is backward compatible with the HP 550 drivers.
Hopefully your version of Calendar Creator has a PCL3 driver or a
"generic" HP Deskjet / Inkjet driver.
To make the printer shared, right-click the printer and click Sharing,
then click the "Share this printer" radio button and pick a name for
the printer. Best to keep it short and not use spages (something like
HP970).
To map the shared printer to LPT1, get to a command prompt (start -
run - CMD - Enter) and type NET USE LPT1 \\mycomputername\HP970
(substitute your computer name for mycomputername, and the share name
you gave the printer in place of HP970, of course).
Now, anything that gets sent to LPT1 will be redirected to the USB
printer. To test, from a command prompt type COPY C:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI
LPT1 and see if it prints. You will probably have to press the page
feed button on the printer to get the page to print and eject.
Hope this helps.
--
Zaphod
Voted "Worst Dressed Sentient Being in the Known Universe" for seven
years in a row.
mortman
that there are spaces as shown and also before LPT1) I get the following
reply:
not enough server storage is available to process this command.
0 files copied
Any thoughts?
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Since you don't say, I'm hoping that the first two steps completed
without error. If I'm wrong, please let me know (and include the
applicable errors, of course).
I've never run into that error message before, so I Googled it and
came up with (among others) the following:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/177078
It looks like it is worth pursuing, even if you don't have that
version of anti virus installed. If that doesn't help, try Googling
the error message (put quotes around it) and maybe adding XP at the
end to narrow it down some.
Good luck!
--
Zaphod
"The best Bang since the Big One" - Eccentrica Gallumbits
H-Man
Another method, and I've used this on XP but I don't know if this will work
with others, is to right click on the printer in Printers and Faxes and
select properties. Go tot he Ports tab and check Enable Printer Pooling.
Then select LTP1 as an additional port to print to. That way anything sent
to LPT1 will also be sent to the selected printer.
--
HK
mortman
directs output to the HP 970. However, no fonts, lines, or graphics
print. Only basic typed output appears which is of little use by itself.
mortman
my screen I am re-submitting it:
mortman
Thank you for your followup. The 2 steps were completed without error.
> I've never run into that error message before, so I Googled it and
> came up with (among others) the following:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/177078
> It looks like it is worth pursuing, even if you don't have that
> version of anti virus installed. If that doesn't help, try Googling
> the error message (put quotes around it) and maybe adding XP at the
> end to narrow it down some.
>
> Good luck!
I haven't tried this as yet. I just had some major dental work so I
haven't done much of anything for a few days.
H-Man
// snip //
>>
>> Another method, and I've used this on XP but I don't know if this will work
>> with others, is to right click on the printer in Printers and Faxes and
>> select properties. Go tot he Ports tab and check Enable Printer Pooling.
>> Then select LTP1 as an additional port to print to. That way anything sent
>> to LPT1 will also be sent to the selected printer.
>>
> Hi H-Man...This was sent yesterday, but since the post doesn't appear on
> my screen I am re-submitting it:
>
> Using XP. Enabled printer pooling as you suggested. Now the program
> directs output to the HP 970. However, no fonts, lines, or graphics
> print. Only basic typed output appears which is of little use by itself.
if there are no graphics printing then it is likely your printer does not
understand the codes to print such. The output from your program seesm to
be redirected. This redirection is not selective, therefore all data
normally sent to the printer should be getting to the printer. I would
suggest that the HP970 is not strictly LJ IIIP compatible. You might wan to
try another print driver but if that doesn't work you may not be able to
print lines and graphics from DOS on the 970 without a proper driver. The
LJ IIIp supported PCL5 but the DJ970 only supports PCL3. This assumes that
the DOS program driver output is even in PCL, could be it outputs in HPGL
which would be different again. The fact is that unless there is a way to
translate the output from the DOS program to something your printer can
work with, you are beat.
--
HK
mortman
that it just can't be done effectively. I found a company that might be
able to do a repair on the printer (at a large cost, of course). I'm
frustrated enough that I will give them a shot. Shipping the printer to
and from will run about $30 each way plus the actual cost of the repair,
but if they can get this thing working for me, it's worth it.
Thank you all once again.
Phred
There are some pretty knowledgeable people there who *may* be able to
help you.
[comp.periphs.printers added to distribution]
In article <6YOdnYLYjv4VslTU...@giganews.com>, mortman
Cheers, Phred.
--
ppnerk...@THISyahoo.com.INVALID
tmo...@wildblue.net
> Have you tried discussing your problem in comp.periphs.printers?
>
> There are some pretty knowledgeable people there who *may* be able to
> help you.
>
> [comp.periphs.printers added to distribution]
>
Probably not, but there are USB to parallel adaptors.
Tom
Murray
I am using a Lexmark PCL printer thru the parallel port
with a DBase 3 script I wrote 20 years ago. Originally for
an Inkjet.
When I went to XP it didn't work. My 'man' was able to configure
things so that there is a command in the setup system (the
line flashes up so quick I can't remember details) but essentially it
redirects all printer cammands to the LPT1. Since it is the
only printer in this room (the network allows me access to
other printers) I can still use this dynasaur program to
do the accounts. It does it quite respectably, too.
I just don't want to rewrite the PCL or any other language
to get by for a year or so until I retire.
Could be an answer to your need?
Murray