DOS Printing under Windows (W98)

[WhizCat]

I have a new Xerox M940 printer attached to a standalone machine running Win98. I also have several DOS programs on this macine that work fine, but I cannot get any of them to send output to the printer. Although it is physically attached to my parallel port via a Centronics cable, Xerox's driver addresses it as what they call a "virtual port." Any body know a work-around for this problem?

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by WhizCat on 12/08/02 20:30.</FONT></P>

[BertImmenschuh]

Test the printer from DOS. During bootup, when you see the 'Starting Windows....' hold down the Ctrl key and choose "Start in DOS or Command mode", you may have to do it right after hearing the computer beep. You should be at either the C:\&gt; prompt or C:\&gt;windows prompt. Type this and press Enter: dir *.txt&gt;prn.
Might also try this: Type this and press Enter: dir *.txt&gt;lpt1.
And yet a third test, press the Prnt Scrn key.

The three commands should send a print job to the printer if all is well. The page may not come out right away on some printer [sometimes no end-of-page signal], be patient. If after 2 or 3 minutes it still hasn't printed, there is a hardware problem somewhere.

If the printing does occur, then there's a problem in printing from a DOS window or the program.

You can also run the test from a boot floppy.



Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement

[WhizCat]

Thanks for the input. Been there and done that. All of them. All printing jobs work fine from within Windows programs so, no problem with Windows, drivers, or printer. But, DOS wants to print to LPT1 and Xerox (or Windows) will not pass LPT1 streams to that printer. Nor can I get any DOS job running under Windows to simply send the ouput to a disk file so that I can print it later using a Windows program. I have several utilities that will let me capture screens via the Print Scr key, but that is of no use in this case. Any other ideas?

[BertImmenschuh]

From your reply, you've done quite a bit diagnosing. One thing I didn't see was if you went into the Printers folder and on the Details tab, clicked on the Capture Printer Port button.

I wonder if this line SET PRN=LPT1 added to the autoexec.bat file would help? All it does is tell any DOS programs that send output to the PRN device to redirect it to the printer port [LPT1], was handy when I had 2 printers on different LPT ports and working back in Win3.x days and I could redirect a print job.

I have a question that may not need asking but I ask it anyway it just to help narrow down where the problem might be. Does the Prnt Scrn data show up in Paint? Prnt Scrn in Windows 9x and later sends the data to the clipboard and it can be pasted into numerous programs. I use a program called PrintDeskTop to send directly to the printer. <a target="_blank" href=http://www.printdesktop.com/>http://www.printdesktop.com/</a>

Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement

[mysterywolf]

can you add printer in control panel and specify lpt1 but use orig drivers?
or ..more convoluted.. share the orig printer and net use lpt1 ...etc etc ...????

[WhizCat]

RE: "if you went into the Printers folder and on the Details tab, clicked on the Capture Printer Port button."
A: Can't capture on a standalone machine, i.e., no LAN, thus no printer sharing.

RE: "SET PRN=LPT1 added to the autoexec.bat file would help?
A: No help. DOS already knows where LPT1 is.

RE: "Does the Prt Scrn data show up in Paint?"
A: Yes, and for Notepad, Wordpad, Word, et al, and also for DOS programs.

RE: "I use a program called PrintDeskTop to send directly to the printer..."
A: I use one called PRINT NOW, sometimes. Capturing screens is no problem--printing captured screens is easy--the problem is not being able to dynamic data-string printing from within DOS applications.

More background: On another machine, also running Win98, I have a Lexmark Z12 attached to LPT1. No problem. All software, DOS and Windows can print to that El Cheapo. Most of my DOS programs are ones I that have written myself, some in GW-BASIC, some in QB 2.0, some in QB 4.5, and some in Whiz, and WhizBAM-my own 8086 assemblers. All of these programs print just fine to printers at LPT1, including on 8086, 80286, 80386 and 80486 machines, and DOS 3.0 through DOS 6, and W3.0, W3.1, W95, and W98 on the newer machines, with several different dot-matrix printers, and an old HP PaintJetXL. Because DOS uses INT 21, Function 40, and BIOS INT 17, I am now reckoning that XEROX is subverting these interrupts in their driver, and it in turn is simply doing an immediate IRET for DOS calls. Unfortunately, so far, I have been able to get anyone at XEROX to answer my queries. Even so, I am looking for a Windows work-around because the same problem occurs--I think--with printers hooked to a USB port. See that I am an old DOS dog, but a Windows puppy, and that is the reason for these queries. And, PS, I am bound to believe that other Windows puppies are also running into these same problems with other new, hi-tech printers.

[WhizCat]

RE: can you add printer in control panel and specify lpt1 but use orig drivers?
or ..more convoluted.. share the orig printer and net use lpt1 ...etc etc ...????
A: No. Windows will let me "add a printer", but
any other driver runs into a "collision problem" becase there is already an LPT device physically attached to the parallel port. The other part of this problem seems to also be that no driver other than XEROX's knows the "control codes", etc. that must be used to control its unique gadget. Calling it an Epson, for example, can make it do some crazy things, but that's no help, obviously.

[mysterywolf]

is there any confusion over the definition of lpt port?

the OS by default offers lpt1, 2, and 3 .
the hardware has a physical prtr port.
these things need to be software connected.

bog-standard parallel printer install will attach lpt1 to prtr port for you, but you could if you wanted net use lpt1 (or 2 or 3) to a network printer!
in a nutshell - unless you have created a LOCAL printer within the os and selected LPT1 for the port then any dos print will have no where to go. the data/instructions get sent not to a port but to a device/driver which in turn has a port to output to.

try what my last post suggested.

[BertImmenschuh]

The mention of a USB port connection would make me think that may be part of the problem as DOS can't do USB and older DOS-based programs can't either.

Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement

[WhizCat]

MysteryWolf:

Your previous post said:
1. can you add printer in control panel and specify lpt1 but use orig drivers?
2. or ..more convoluted.. share the orig printer and net use lpt1 ...etc etc ...????

Forgive me for being dense, but:
1. No. I can add a printer and aim orig driver at LPT1, but nothing will print--always get "error". The Xerox driver will only tolerate XPRT_WMS: which apparently means, "Xerox Virtual Printer Port"
2. No. I am unable to share the orig printer.

Like I thought I said in my previous reply, I am unable to modify the properties to specify a Network printer. When I attempt it, I am asked for a Network Path. Don't know what that is. When I try to Browse, the only option presented is to Cancel. I presume this is because my machine does not have LAN hardware, but I don't have a clue about any of this. The last time I worked with networked computers was in 1981, or so, using S100-bus, 8080-desktop computers running M/PM. And about all I remember about that is, it was a miserable experience.