How can I use a USB printer with an old DOS program

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]

In article , mortman
wrote:
H-Man wrote:
On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:17:01 -0400, mortman wrote:
// 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.

Thanx to all who tried to help. I guess I must resign myself to the fact
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.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

On Mar 25, 5:38*am, (Phred) wrote:
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]

In article , mortman



wrote:
H-Man wrote:
On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:17:01 -0400, mortman wrote:
// 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.

Thanx to all who tried to help. I guess I must resign myself to the fact
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.

Cheers, Phred.

--


Probably not, but there are USB to parallel adaptors.

Tom

Dunno if it's the same problem - I can't access the OP.
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

wrote:
On Mar 25, 5:38 am, (Phred) wrote:

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]

In article , mortman



wrote:

H-Man wrote:

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:17:01 -0400, mortman wrote:
// snip //