printing from DOS

[Mark Bbb]

Hello,
Customer has a special program (national pigeon registration) in dos.Now he uses a Brother printer with serial interface.
But the Brother needs to be replaced...
Is there a good working solution for DOS printing (via a software?) that makes it possible to print via USB?
Thank you in advance for you answer.

[acfife]

Re: printing from DOS

I would try using an old HP LaserJet 4 pcl driver, very basic driver but it may work for you regardless of the printer model.

[Mark Bbb]

Re: printing from DOS

I would try using an old HP LaserJet 4 pcl driver, very basic driver but it may work for you regardless of the printer model.

ac5: Good idea, but we like to sell new machines (very much in fact)...

[acfife]

Re: printing from DOS

Yeah the old driver works with most modern/new printers regardless of make, have used it on Canon and Xerox in past

[Mark Bbb]

Re: printing from DOS

Yeah the old driver works with most modern/new printers regardless of make, have used it on Canon and Xerox in past

Windows Vista is the oldest driver for a Ricoh aficio 3030 (second hand printer).
Thank you for helping, any other thought?

[Mark Bbb]

Re: printing from DOS

I would try using an old HP LaserJet 4 pcl driver, very basic driver but it may work for you regardless of the printer model.

Acfife: We do have an old Aficio 1022 with interface cable. Will this be able to print via DOS?

[acfife]

Re: printing from DOS

You should be able to use a new printer connect with usb cable, let printer install itself as normal, then go into printer properties on the driver and change the driver there to point at what ever driver you want, try the hp pcl driver, it does not have to be an HP printer, you will not get full printer functions but should do basic dos printing

[Phil B.]

Re: printing from DOS

You should be able to use a new printer connect with usb cable, let printer install itself as normal, then go into printer properties on the driver and change the driver there to point at what ever driver you want, try the hp pcl driver, it does not have to be an HP printer, you will not get full printer functions but should do basic dos printing

the problem is .. more than likely it is a proprietary software program... and being a DOS it might not understand the USB port. The LJ4 driver will work but not with a USB interface

[slimslob]

Re: printing from DOS

Windows Vista is the oldest driver for a Ricoh aficio 3030 (second hand printer).
Thank you for helping, any other thought?

Prior to Ricoh dropping drivers for older Windows OS, all PCL6 drivers were the same for a given MFP. The only differences were 32 bit vs 64 bit.

[KenB]

Re: printing from DOS

Not all that difficult, really.

First off, select the newest driver that the DOS app has to offer, ideally a LaserJet 5, if possible.

If possible in the app, change the port to LPT1.

You did not say what OS the customer has, but they should mostly behave the same. Let's assume its Windows 7.

Set up a new printer in Windows, using the correct driver for the MFP.

For the port, create a new Standard TCP/IP Port, just as you normally would, using the printer's IP address or host name. Verify that you can get output.

Share the new printer, say as "dos_printer".

Here's the fun part:

From a command prompt, type "net use LPT1: \\<hostname or IP of your PC>\dos_printer /persistent: yes"

For example: "net use LPT1: \\Fred\dos_printer /persistent:yes"

The above command will direct the output of LPT1 to the correct queue. The "/persistent: yes" switch makes it permanent, so it won't go away after a reboot.

Note that this could conceivably be done using whatever COM port the current printer is using, but sometimes COM ports are shared, and redirecting them can cause issues. Stick with the LPT port if possible.

Also, if there already is something living on LPT1, you can use LPT2, 3, etc... It does not need to physically exist.

There are other was to do this, perhaps a bit more streamlined, but this is one that I used a few years back in the same situation. For instance, some Ricoh machines will allow you to print SMB. If you have that available, you would eliminate the shared printer, and map LPT1 to the UNC path of the printer.

If you print a network config page, you will quickly see if SMB printing is supported or not, and what the path would be to point to.

Good luck!

[CanonSco]

Re: printing from DOS

DOS print USB Windows printers

Works for me.