Re: DOSEMU not printing to USB printer

Re: DOSEMU not printing to USB printer

[Garth Kay-Hards]

On 18 November, Jan wrote 

> ## Printer and parallel port settings
> # Print commands to use for LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3.
> # Default: "lpr -l", "lpr -l -P lpt2", and "" (disabled)
> # Which means: use the default print queue for LPT1, "lpt2" queue for
> LPT2.
> # "-l" means raw printing mode (no preprocessing).
> $_lpt1 = "lpr -l"
> # $_lpt2 = "lpr -l -P lpt2"
> # $_lpt3 = ""
> # idle time in seconds before spooling out. Default: (20)
> $_printer_timeout = (20)
>
> Do not use "-l" if you intend to use a DOS program that doesn't have a
> printer driver for your particular printer. "-l" bypasses the CUPS
printer 
> driver, only the CUPS spooler is used in that case.

Okay, Jan's solution looked like the simple solution to the 3 I got
(thank you Frank and Rafal for yours - I'll keep your solutions on the
side) 
I removed the -l from the dosemu.conf file (it now reads $_lpt1 = "lpr"
and the printer now allows me to print from the DOS command line.
That's a big step forward for me and I will test out the DBL program now
and see if it will print all that it requires.  I will let you guys know
what the results are.
Thanks very much to you all.
Regards
Garth

DOSEMU not printing to USB printer

[Garth Kay-Hards]

I have loaded DOSEMU 1.4.0 and am trying to get a old DBL program
running which does Accounting. My Linux system is Open SUSE 10.2.
The DBL package is running nicely but I am unable to print from the
program or from the DOS prompt (eg COPY NAME.BAT LPT1: )
As I understand from the notes I've found that dosemu spools the print
to the default Linux printer, which in my case is a USB printer. I can
find no discussions on using a USB printer but I assume as it's the
Linux default it will just work. A standard "lpr filename" from the
Linux command prompt works fine.
I have tried altering the dosemu.conf file to enable LPT1 as follows:

## Printer and parallel port settings
# Print commands to use for LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3.
# Default: "lpr -l", "lpr -l -P lpt2", and "" (disabled)
# Which means: use the default print queue for LPT1, "lpt2" queue for
LPT2.
# "-l" means raw printing mode (no preprocessing).
$_lpt1 = "lpr -l"
# $_lpt2 = "lpr -l -P lpt2"
# $_lpt3 = ""
# idle time in seconds before spooling out. Default: (20)
$_printer_timeout = (20)

This dosemu.conf installed automatically into /etc/dosemu
I have tried the configuration in the /etc directory but I still can't
print.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Garth

Re: DOSEMU not printing to USB printer

[Frank Cox]

On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 19:54:06 +0200
Garth Kay-Hards <garth@axxess.co.za> wrote:

> Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Two work-arounds that may or may not be of value:

Try printing to a file and then print that.

Along the same line of thinking, try printing to CUPS-PDF and then print that.

If you want to refine that, you could try running this script:

QUOTE:
echo Close this window when done.
while [ x ]; do
for i in /home/dawn/PDF-AutoPrint/*.pdf; do
if [ -f $i ]
then
        sleep 5
        lpr $i
        rm $i
fi
done
sleep 15
done
END OF QUOTE

I use this as a work-around with an old Windows program that runs under Wine
but refuses to print.

-- 
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com

Re: DOSEMU not printing to USB printer

[Jan Kandziora]

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Am Samstag, 17. November 2007 18:54 schrieb Garth Kay-Hards:
>
> ## Printer and parallel port settings
> # Print commands to use for LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3.
> # Default: "lpr -l", "lpr -l -P lpt2", and "" (disabled)
> # Which means: use the default print queue for LPT1, "lpt2" queue for
> LPT2.
> # "-l" means raw printing mode (no preprocessing).
> $_lpt1 = "lpr -l"
> # $_lpt2 = "lpr -l -P lpt2"
> # $_lpt3 = ""
> # idle time in seconds before spooling out. Default: (20)
> $_printer_timeout = (20)
>
Do not use "-l" if you intend to use a DOS program that doesn't have a printer 
driver for your particular printer. "-l" bypasses the CUPS printer driver, 
only the CUPS spooler is used in that case.

If you have a fairly new USB printer, it's unlikely your DOS program has a 
driver for it. In that case, you have to install an ascii print queue and 
your DOS program may only print text, not graphics. Other solutions need a 
printer language converter (e.g. EPSON ESC/P -> Postscript). I know some for 
MS-Windows, but none for Linux, maybe someone else does?

Kind regards

	Jan
-- 
Je tiefer der Abgrund, desto höher der Himmel.

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Re: DOSEMU not printing to USB printer

[Jan Willem Stumpel]

Jan Kandziora wrote:

> If you have a fairly new USB printer, it's unlikely your DOS
> program has a driver for it. In that case, you have to install
> an ascii print queue and your DOS program may only print text,
> not graphics. Other solutions need a printer language converter
> (e.g. EPSON ESC/P -> Postscript). I know some for MS-Windows,
> but none for Linux, maybe someone else does?

I do PCL -> Postscript conversion, tell the DOS programs they talk
to an HP LaserJet, and everything comes out more or less alright
on my fairly new (Brother 2030) printer. See my message in the
archives, 2006-11-10 10:18:28, and the thread it was a part of.

Regards, Jan